Last Resort
by crave-the-rave
Summary: Naruto wanted to know...he'd die unhappy if he didn't know...true he'd die unhappy even if he did know, but he didn't care. He'd kill himself AFTER he figured out who the random scary red-head was... Gaanaru
1. Fly

* * *

yey! okay...yeah...well, this is a GaaNaru...my first one wipes tear from eye, because yeah, I needed something to vent my mind on...Pretty Rave Boy is still being written (if you know what i'm talking about and are interested...probably not) but please give this a chance bows and so...onto the story.

Disclaimer: I don not own Naruto or anything mentioned in this like vans (oooh i love vans) BUT I own the rain...blates...I'm like a rain god XD

He was going to do it. He was going...to...do it. There was no doubt. He needed to do it. He...needed to...

Naruto Uzumaki stood, one foot against the railing. And he was about to commit suicide. Yup. Kill himself. Fling himself off the side of the bridge and land with a satisfactory 'crunch' as his body slammed into the concrete...well...when he thought about it like that it didn't seem so appealing...he was rather...escaping...his last moments being filled with the feeling of flying as his life filled a single purpose...to end. There...see? When he thought about it like that it cast the whole 'suicide' thing in an entirely new light...so he was going to do it...

He tested the railing...just to see if it wasn't slippy. Why? Well, he wanted to die gracefully, not falling of a bridge like a random maniac...no...it had to be done right...he couldn't get his life right, so he might as well get his death right. Right? Yeah...Naruto nodded to himself and took a deep breath before standing on the railing. He wobbled slightly, feeling the fear cascade through him, but he calmed himself. He didn't want to fall...he wanted to jump...to fly. True, he'd fall after, but he'd have flown...

He felt the cool breeze hit his bangs, brushing them out of his eyes, then felt the wind push him forward slightly. Figures...even the wind wanted him dead. He looked beneath him, seeing the shadow of the bridge twenty two and a half feet below him...yeah...he knew the exact height of the bridge...he'd planned this...he'd spent hours planning it...his death.

Slitting his wrists was too...well...messy. Sure, it would probably feel the best, the knife sliding upwards, slicing through his wrists like butter but...well...what if someone found him? Lying there...wrists split open, knife lying near, eyes wide open staring into nothing...no...no mater how much he hated his housemates, he couldn't do that to them...he wasn't that cruel.

Shooting himself would require a gun...sleeping pills would require sleeping pills...that and thet fact that yet again, they may not work and yet again his idiot housemates would find him...so he needed somewhere far away from those bullying bastards. So he thought...what about jumping off something tall? that usually equaled death right? So he thought...where could he go? then he remembered...the small bridge that hung above the rarely used road that he'd past on the bus one time...the more he thought about it the more the idea grew on him...falling...jumping...flying...

He'd always wanted to fly...it was like a dream of his...when he was little and he'd talk to his aunt he'd be constantly nagging her to let him fly...she's just laugh and call him a brat and say it was impossible...Naruto soon learnt it really was impossible after he'd broken his ankle 'falling' from a climbing frame...yeah...little boys can't fly, no matter how many times they watch Peter Pan.

But...maybe suicidal teenagers could? He'd close his eyes as he fell...and then...oblivion. It was all planned. Naruto opened his eyes and lifted his right foot, causing it to hover over the edge. Then he heard footsteps...shit...there was someone coming...great...it was all ruined, his careful planning. The person would stop him and he'd...fuck! He felt like tearing his hair out, and turned his head to see a boy approaching...wait...

The boy had blood red hair and a pale thin face, cascaded in shadows, mainly from the dimming light...he was wearing tight black trousers and vans with a loose hoodie on with 'Slipknot' scrawled across it. He had a...tattoo was it? Some random squiggle as far as Naruto could see, but he could see he was walking straight towards him...the boys stopped.

Naruto stared straight into his black rimmed eyes, waiting for the whole 'please don't jump! You have your whole life ahead of you!' shit that was sure to come...only...it didn't...the boy just, looked at him strangely then carried on walking.

Naruto felt his jaw drop...what? He was just going to walk off while some one was obviously going to commit suicide? Talk about heartless...wait...shouldn't he be thanking him? He was allowing him to jump...to fly...to die...wait...that didn't sound right. How could someone just let another person die? True, he wanted to die, but...but that was besides the point. He was...waling away. Naruto watched his retreating back...he didn't even turn around...bastard...he should jump now, just to spite him...wait...Naruto sighed.

He'd lost it again. The feeling of wanting to die. The adrenaline was gone. He...couldn't do it anymore. Raw anger filled him as he stepped off the railing, stumbling just a bit, his hands shaking violently. He was going to have to go back...to them...he felt sick. Physically sick. It could have been over. All of it. But that...that...freak just had to ruin it. Fucking twat. But...why? Why had he just walked on...was he just another person who didn't care if another died? Was he...some random phsyco. Fuck...had he just met a serial killer?

Naruto found his head filling with random thoughts as to who the stranger was...he shivered involuntary. It was getting dark...and kind of cold. He felt a splash of water on his nose and felt it slide down across his face...great...rain as well. That...that bastard. He wanted to know now...why hadn't he stopped him? Why had he walked on? Well...Naruto wanted to know...he'd die unhappy if he didn't know...true he'd die unhappy even if he did know, but he didn't care. He'd kill himself _after _he figured out who the random scary red-head was.

Until then...he sighed...he had to get home. Home...he almost laughed. Is that what they called it? The other boys sharing the dorms. The ones who made _everything worse._ They didn't know how much they made it all worse. They didn't know how paranoid he was...how starting rumours about him made him want to slice open his arms. How teasing him on his scars made him want to drown himself in the sink. They didn't know...and that made it somewhat sweeter. His death...it would make them see how much they hurt him. Well...the not would anyway...he spent ages thinking it though...writing it in his best most legible handwriting...all for nothing. He wondered if they'd read it yet, or not...either way they'd probably laugh...he couldn't even kill himself right.

He half hoped they hadn't, so he would have to explain why he was in fact alive. The note explained why he was dead so he'd never really thought about how to explain his alive-ness...

He walked as the rain started to increase. It flowed over and through his hair, flattening it to his head and coursing down his shoulders into his T-shirt which was now plastered to his back. As he shook his head, rain cascaded off, water droplets flicking in random directions and running into his eyes. He blinked it out,his vision slightly blurred as he headed to the bus-stop. Finally...a shelter. He sat on the broken bench dejectedly waiting for the bus to arrive, which it should in about...he checked his watch...ten minutes. He'd never thought this far. What to do after he'd killed himself...never really occured to him.

Lightning cracked above him casuing him to jump about three feet off the bench...he cursed. Why did it have to rain now? It was meant to rain when he died! Not when he was waiting for a bus...that stupid red-head. If he'd stopped and told him not to jump, he'd have jumped...if that idiot had showed some consideration to another human being he'd be dead by now and free...free or in hell, but either way he wouldn't be soaking wet waiting for a manky bus with some random old man driving and slags slitting at the back chatting about the best place they'd been fingered...the glorious sight that befell Naruto as he stepped onto the bus, flashing his bus card and sitting as far away from everybody else as he could.

"And yeah, it was like, at the back of the cinema and he'd just came onto me and I was like yeah whatever, so I let him..." Naruto blanked out the conversation behind him, his ears blocking out all sound...that was until his ears picked up on their new whispered topic...fuck his amazing sense of hearing...

"...yeah...the one at the front...oh my god...look at his clothes...do you think he's a faggot?"

"What...at the front...? Oh my god...he'd so gay...look at him...he's like a freak or somethin',"

"I know...he looks like a right nerd..."

"...He might hear you..."

"...so?..."

Naruto wished that he could close his ears...wished so bad. If he could do that maybe he wouldn't be in such a suicidal state of mind...but no...he could hear everything people said about him...everything... he leaned his face against the window, ignoring the giggle behind him as he did so, and watched the rain pour down the side of the window.

He rang the bell, signaling it was his stop and waited for the bus to screech to a halt, jerking him forward...more giggles...he straighted and walked out the bus muttering a 'cheers' at the elderly driver. He heard a 'see ya later darling' followed by a 'Sarah...shut the fuck up...he might set his boyfriend on you!' but the door slid shut just in time to hide the hideous grating laughter emmited from the two sluts.

It was still raining...not that it made much difference, but he was soon wet in stead of the damp he'd become as the bus seat had soaked up most of the rainwater. And so he reached it...the house where him and the other boys lived. He'd been put into a house with six other boys, each sharing a rent...some random thing the school had arranged...it would have been fine if most the boys hadn't been complete pricks...some were alright...Shikamaru was okay when he could be bothered, and Kiba was alright if you got him on his own...but together they were kind of...evil? Sadistic? Right behind the door? He opened it and tiptoed inside, hoping they wouldn't notice him, but before he even reached the stairs he was grabbed by an incredibly drunk Kiba.

"Where you bin?" Kiba slurred, dragging him into the kitchen. Naruto flinched at his touch, but allowed himself to be manouvered. Kiba sluggishliy removed his arm.

"Ya'll wet..." Kiba said, glaring at him.

"It's raining," Naruto deadpanned. Kiba laughed, leaing against a bench...covered in empty bottles of vodka and WKD...great.

"Idiot...y'when in rain?" Kiba asked. Naruto sighed.

"Yeah..." he said miserably...he couldn't be bothered with this.

"Oi Kiba...gettin here!" the voice of one tipsy Lee drifted from the living room. Kiba shoved Naruto though laughing and stumbled in afterwards.

"Huh...look who it is," the smug voice of one very sober Sasuke reached his ears. How could the bastard drink so much and remain so sober?

"Who?" Kiba asked, staring round. Sasuke rolled his eyes and Naruto watched as he shoved Kiba into a seat.

"You're smashed," he said to him deadpan. Kiba just giggled. Sasuke rolled his eyes then turned back to Naruto.

"Where...were you?" Sasuke asked him, like he was the scum of the Earth. Naruto considered saying..'yeah, I was about to kill myself by jumping from a bridge when a random red-head stopped me by not stopping me'...just to see Sasuke's face. Instead he said.

"Out," and made to leave, but Sasuke grabbed his arm.

"Wait up whiskers," he resisted the urge to punch him.

"No," he said, trying to unattatch his arm, but Sasuke's grip was vice-like.

"Where'd you go? Finally get laid? Find the perfect man...?"

"I'm not fucking gay," Naruto said, looking at the ground. Sasuke, Lee and Kiba's laughing (although Kiba probably didn't know what hell were talking about) pierced him. Sasuke shoved him roughly snorting.

"Yeah...right...if you're not gay then I'll date Sakura," Sasuke said, referring to one of his exes...it didn't end well...possessive relationships never do, and she wouldn't give him any space from what Naruto heard...

"Well, I'd buy some protection if I were you because I...AM...NOT...GAY," Naruto said, stumbling out of the room and making his way to the stairs. He felt Neji barge past him muttering 'watch it' and Naruto trudged upstairs, each step making him wish more and more that he had just had the balls to jump...had the balls to fucking END IT ALL...he walked into his darkened room, flicking on the lights, his eyes drifting over the large note left on his bed for when one of them was about to wake him up (by chucking icy water over him) and found him gone, a note in his place.

_Hey...if your reading this your probably...just maybe wondering where I am...you wont care, but I thought I ought to tell you that I've had enough...you don't know what it was like before coming here, but I really thought it's be different here...guess I was wrong huh? So yeah...I'm dead...sounds weird when I write it like that but yeah...it's the truth..._

_You don't understand what you did...how you made it worse...I bet you didn't know I wanted to die. Bet you thought everything was alright...guess what...it wasn't...it never was...your insults...I took them seriously because underneath the joking fascade, I knew deep down that you were right...I was an idiot. I was stupid, a freak and yeah...I admit it...I was gay. Funny that...I didn't even have the guts to tell you to your faces..._

_If you bother coming to my funeral then...no...you won't bother. _

_Naruto (deaceased)_

He'd thought so hard about how to phrase it all, but in the end it just came out as a random rant about his life...it got the points across though...he was dead...well...supposed to be dead. If it wasn't for that...that...Naruto couldn't even think about him...no...scratch that...he couldn't stop thinking about him. His eyes...they were so cold...but the way something flickered across his face before he walked away...he had to find out who it was...he had to...he looked about sixteen or seventeen...he supposedly lived near there...there was a town square there where teenagers hung out...

Right. He'd start by going there on Saturday just to see if he hung out there...if he lived in Suna...there was practically only one place he could go right?

Yeah...he had a plan now...maybe he'd make a list? Make it all official. Naruto liked making lists, planning...true it was slightly obsessive-compulsive behaviour, but he didn't care...so what if he had a slight case of OCD?

He walked past the bed, picking up the note and scrunching it up as tight as he could make it...then decided to unscrew it and rip it up into tiny pieces letting each piece float gently into his bin...there. No one would read it and use it against him. Smiling he wormed his way out of his wet clothing and threw them gracefully into a heap by his wash biin which was overflowing with various articles of random clothing. He grabbed his towel that was hanging on his bed post and dried himself best as he could before walking over to his wardrobe and grabbing a random pair of pyjamas.

There...now he could plan. He flung himself onto his bed, flicking on the reading light and grabbing his suicide notebook. He flicked open to the 'to-do-list' and re-added 'commit suicide' adding 'find out who random red-head bastard was'. There...organised.

Gripping his note book to his chest he closed his eyes. He reached over and pulled his ipod out from under his bed, turning it on and clicking on Papa Roach, Last Resort...letting the guitar pierce his ears...

_Cut my life into pieces_

_this is my last resort..._

* * *

Gaara Sabaku was pissed...no...beyond pissed...he was fucking furious. Underneath his calm exterior he had the urge to rip out the throats of his brother and sister and spill there blood slowly into the fountain so the small cherub would soon be pissing their blood...but no. He kept his calm cool facial expression, while still posing in a 'I'm so hot I cause global warming' kind of way. A few years back he would have punched his brother and ran out fuming...but now he knew better. It was much more productive to argue his points across in a calm, albeit intensely scary way.

"Why-am-I-going-to-a-highschool?" he asked, face calm but venom dripping from each word. His brother seemed to gulp whilst his sister, Temari just rolled her eyes frustratedly.

"For gods sake Gaara...you can't be home schooled any more...the only reason we did it in the first place was because you were deemed...well...unstable..." Temari said looking uncomfortable.

"Just say it...I was deemed a fucking phsyco," Gaara said, daring her to object. Temari just sighed and sunk into the kitchen chair, her head in her hands.

"You had problems," she said, almost as if to tell her self. Gaara was getting slowly more pissed off...they were veering sharply away from the subject that he would soon be in a house with random people...which meant he would be needing to actually 'interact' with them...maybe even...Gaara would have shuddered...'get to know them'. Gaara hated it..._hated_ it. Hated people, especially teenagers. They talked down to him...he wasn't intimidated as such, but the fact that he had the urge to beat the shit out of them each time they called him things and shouted at him for being a 'goth'...which was probably why he did in fact go up to the boy who had spoken and smash his nose in. But in his defense he _had _been provoked. Entirely not his fault. Yeah...

"Gaara...the principle has arranged it all...the students there stay in dorms almost...just houses that are situated on campus...so you'll have your own room and plenty of space..." Temari continued desperately.

"Space can, and will be invaded," Gaara said monotone. It was true...

"Have you never heard of lock?" his brother Kankuro asked him from where had had scuttled off to in the corner of the kitchen and Gaara saw him wince as he glared at him...if only looks could kill...

"Gaara please...please...we can't afford to keep doing this...we can't afford a home tutor...the rates for the school are much less expensive then private schooling...Gaara.." shit...her eyes were all watery...that meant that she was about to cry...Gaara hated it when people cried...their faces scrunched up and became all red and blotchy...their noses ran and they made the most terrible noise. Not only that but they made Gaara feel...weird inside...it gave him the strangest urge to actually touch them in some way to comfort them...so Gaara did the most sensible thing...he left the room and walked out the front door...when in doubt, leave the room. Always worked, without fail.

Problem being, Gaara was now incredibly angry, and had nowhere to go. Well fuck...he'd just have to go some where else then...he began walking up a path that led somewhere pretty familiar...he couldn't place it because he didn't leave the house that often but it gave him an odd de-ja-vu experience so he carried on walking...

Fuck them. No..seriously...fuck them. So they'd rather send him off to some random school instead of forking a few extra dollars...they'd put his mentality at risk? Well fuck them...if he went on a crazed killing spree then maybe it would serve them right for sending into a moshpit of teenage boys, probably popular jocks who wouldn't hesitate to hate him...he didn't mind, but he found it so...annoying so...wait...Gaara strained his eyes ahead of him, the light dimming slightly...

In front of him was a boy...a boy...who was...Gaara had to admit it...pretty hot. He was wearing an orange T-shirt in his torso, nothing more, nothing less, but it seemed to hang around him, the breeze giving it an eerie movement...his blonde hair hung around his small face, giving it angles and causing him to look strangely elven...and he was standing on a railing. Ah...there could only be five reasons as to why he was standing on the railing of a bridge.

1. He wanted to kill himself.

2. The boy had a fetish for bridges.

3. He was short and needed to see far away...?

4. He had weird urges?

5. He was...a...ghost?

Only one of them seemed even half likely and that was option 1 (ding ding ding we have a winner)...Gaara sighed mentally...what should he do...ah fuck it...if the weird blonde kid wanted to kill himself he should have the right...right? Gaara certainly knew that he wouldn't want _his _suicide attempt fucked up...and he didn't want another problem...he had enough to think about...right?...So he carried on walking, stopping only momentarily to look straight into the eyes of the boy...it was kind of creepy...staring into the eyes of a dead boy...and as Gaara walked past he felt a weird feeling...strange...it was something a bit like 'guilt'. Funny...he hadn't felt it for years. But hey...it was none of his business what other people did...they could fuck themselves for all he cared...just something about his eyes...they looked so...

Gaara resisted the urge to shake his head, to clear all thoughts of the boy away. Instead, he picked up speed, trying to remove all images of the boy from his head...the boy falling...landing...breaking...

No...he dug his nails into his hands...he didn't care what happened to some suicidal blonde...he didn't...so he carried on walking even after it started raining...he found himself walking towards his home, but for some reason didn't really care about the defeat he would suffer in giving his sibling the satisfaction of him going home. No. He was cold and tired, and needed to music loud enough to make his ears bleed. It wasn't that he needed a distraction from the boy...no...maybe?

Gaara thought about it logically...he was obviously for some reason bothered as to whether the boy had killed himself or not. Solution? Find out if he was dead or not. So Gaara turned on his heel and began walking back to the spot where the blonde boy was, ignoring the rain plastering his hair to his head. Nope...no blonde...he leaned over the railing...no dead blonde either...but for some reason...it still bothered him...but he was more bothered as to why he was bothered...

tbc?

okay...there it was...my way of venting my brain...I'm going to continue it I think...I don't know...do you want me to?

Please review to say what you thought and all that XD

If enough people want it coninued then shrugs yeah, why not...I've always wanted to write a GaaNaru...and yeah, my chapter are usually longer, round 6000 words scratches head...oh well XD

thanks for reading...i love you but will love you more if you review hint hint and yeah...chapter aren't usually as boring as this...you now, blocks of description and all that..bear with me people I'm setting the scene for luurrvvee lol XD


	2. Searching

* * *

yey...okay, I got a lot more reviews then I actually expected to, and that has somehow fueled my brain into gear and given me some INSPIRATION people. So, today I shall continue with 'Last Resort', cue the thunder in background sound effects. Tada? 3 OH and PS: If you haven't heard of a band called Blaqk Audio and you like AFI, listen to them people. That is all XD

DISCAIMER: I do not own NARUTO or any bands, films or books mentioned in this fanfiction (say it with me...FAN fiction) HOWEVER le plot is MINE ALL MINE!!

Oh and all opinion's included in this fic are not necessarily those of the authoress XD

* * *

ChAPtER 2:

Rain. It really grated on Gaara's nerves the way it soaked innocent bystanders in it's quest to become a puddle. Well, maybe not. But he hated it none the less, mainly because it was, at that moment in time, causing him to be very-very wet. And Gaara hated being wet, almost as much as seeing people cry. It made his once volumised sex hair that framed his thin face as it moved with even the slightest breeze, become plastered to his face and give him the look of a drowned hippie. Gaara didn't suit being a hippy much at all, and prefered the colour black to flowers and love, so this look was definately not good...

Gaara was outside his house,his front door to be exact, deciding whether to actually go in and admit defeat to his siblings about the whole, 'highschool' thing...he shuddered at the thought. Being in a house, nevermind a room with other people was going to literally drive him mental. He would be crawling up the walls by day two, and what pissed him off the most was that he knew his sister knew that. She _knew _he would hate it, _knew _it would cause him nothing but misery and torture, but still she was not only requesting it, but insiting he went. And she _knew _he could do nothing about it because she was his legal guardian with complete and utter control over is entire life.

But, no matter how pissed off he was, he was slightly more wet...and cold. And in need of coffee...so for these reasons and these reasons alone, he opened the door and stepped into the house. His sister ran into the hallway, looking wild.

"Gaara! Where were you?" she asked angrily. Gaara noticed that Kankuro walk quickly into the living room, furthest away from his manic sister. Gaara shrugged.

"You just left...you always just leave! Why do you never say where you're going?" his sister screamed and Gaara swore his ear drums must have been bleeding. Ouch?

"I didn't see the need to. You don't need to know where I go," Gaara said monotone. Temari sighed dramatically.

"But I _do_...what if something happens to you while your out? We wont know where 'out' is!" she said, bunny ear quoting the 'out'. Gaara just shrugged, thinking about it.

"I'll die?" he said after some consideration. Temari looked ready to slam her head into a wall.

"Yes Gaara. Do you want to die?" Temari said slowly. Gaara scowled at the way she was talking to him, like a five year old. He wasn't an idiot and he wan't five.

"Fuck off," he said, walking past her, ignoring her protesting shrieks and he headed into the living room to see his useless brother sitting watching T.V. During all the hours he watched that 'programe box', Kankuro could have been working to earn money for Gaara to stay here and not go to that hell-hole. Funny...Kankuro almost seemed to be pleased he was going. Gaara sat down next to his brother who sighed.

"Hey Gaara," he said, sounding exasperated. Gaara didn't answer, instead letting his eyes adjust to the dark room and the blinding light coming from the film on T.V...Harry Potter or something...the only reason Gaara even bothered with the series of book about the 'amazing-boy-wizard' was for Voldemort, in Gaara's opinion the best character in the series. He was ruthless, un-merciful and could pretty much kick ass, whereas all Harry could do was levitate a feather...no comparison in Gaara's personal opinion...

"Gaara...are you even listening?" Kankuro cut across him. Gaara turned to look at him, his face blank.

"No," he said simply. He saw Kankuro sigh (he was doing that alot recently).

"Look...Gaara. We don't want to send you to school," he began. Gaara almost snorted...didn't seem that way.

"...we really have no choice Gaara. We're in a bit of debt..." Gaara's attention shot to his brother. They hadn't said they were in any financial debt, just that they couldn't afford to pay for it anymore. There _was _a difference. He'd just presumed that they wanted a bit more cash to spend on the 'leisurely' items he knew they'd always wanted, like ensuite bathrooms, a jacuzzi, and iguana...well, maybe only Kankuro wanted an iguana, but that was besides the point.

"How much debt?" Gaara asked, a scowl appearing on his face. Kankuro looked nervous.

"Just a bit Gaara, nothing to worry about," Kankuro began, holding his hands up.

"How much," Gaara said, leaving no room for objection. Kankuro looked embarrassed.

"40,000," he whispered. Gaara was shocked. Literally. Shocked. He let none show on his face, instead asking venemously.

"And why are you in that much fucking-debt," Gaara hissed. Kankuro suddenly looked angry.

"You're fucking hospital bills from last year, that's why we owe so much fucking money!" Kankuro shouted, before looking quite guilty and wrapping his hand round his mouth to stop anything else being said.

Ah. So that was it was it. His 'treatment'. His counciling. His 'help' had cost that much money. Wait. What? Since when? Since...it was all his fault. Figures. He felt like laughing synically then and there, but decided that he could freak Kankuro out later on. So he stood up and gave his stunned brother a glance before walking into the kitchen. His sudden appearance made Temari jump and turn round to face him, eyes wide. She was wiping her eyes, a sure sign that she had just been crying...yes Gaara could see, they were all red and puffy and unattractive.

"Gaara...shit you scared me..."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Gaara asked, genuinly curious. Temari looked guilty, wiping her sleeve across her eye.

"Tell you? Tell you what?" Temari asked, avoiding his eye contact. Gaara decided to be blunt, to lay it on thick.

"Tell me that my 'sessions' with various men and women where my homicidal feelings were talked about were in fact going to cost up to 40,000," Gaara said, for some reason souding slightly angry.

"I didn't think it would matter..." Temari said, still avoiding his eyes. Gaara walked to her and reached past her to flick the button on the kettle. He needed coffee...he didn't want to be sleeping that night.

"Gaara listen..." she began.

"Shut up," he said coldy. He saw something akin to hurt flah across his sisters face before she stalked out the kitchen leaving him alone to make coffee...

He loved coffee. The smell of the granules as he heaped it in, the steam that drifted from it as he poured in the boiling hot water, the way the dark brown simmered as he wited slightly for it to cool, the feeling of slight pain as it slipped down his tongue. The feeling of being slightly burnt on his lips, as the hot liquid trickled down his throat like blood. It cleared his head, making it seem slightly more bearable. And now he didn't need to sleep.

No sleep meant no dreams, and no dreams meant no waking up feeling muderous. Literally. His dreams were...confusing. Flashes of blood and knives and the knives slashing which made the blood and the blood dripping off the walls like a hideous spider crawling downwards. When he dreamt, the voices talked to him. During the blood shed, they'd speak to him. Tell him to do things. Like grab the nearest sharp object and cut himself...of course he didn't do it on purpose. It was just to shut the voice up. It was annoying. Yeah. The voice.

He shook his head to clear the drowsiness, before downing his coffee. He licked his lips, his sharp tongue lapping the remaining taste of coffe from his mouth...becase coffee was just_ that_ good. He wondered if you could live off coffee...it had caffeine in it, and tasted good so...? No, probably not. He sighed. The coffee was all gone...

He walked back through the living room, ignoring Kankuro's cries of 'Gaara wait..' and headed up the wooden stairs, making sure his shoes caused the maximum amount of noise as he stalked up the stairs. He drifted over to his bedroom and opened the door with a creak...god he loved the creak. It gave his room the typical 'haunted house' feel, that Gaara just loved. It made him feel more at home in this place he truly considered to be the furthest thing away from home.

Walking into his room he glanced at the spider webs hanging in the corners of his room...it had taken his ages to get them that good. Kankuro never helped what with his 'arachnophobia' and Temari with her bloody duster. Was it really necesarry to wash a ceiling? Gaara didn't think so. He sighed and sat on his bed, his eyes drifting to his movie collection. Night of the living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, The Exorsist, The Evil Dead, The Evil Dead 2, The Lion King, 28 Days Later, Boy Eats Girl, Pet Cemetary, I Eat Your Skin...yes...Gaara had a zombie fetish. He loved watching the films where plot came after violence, where he could lose his mind to the torrents of blood that flowed across his TV screen. Admitedly the Lion King possessed none of these traits (although it _did _have an ounce of death in it when the lion fell off the cliff)...but it was the first film Gaara had ever seen, and he refused to get rid of it...true it did look rather out of place being squashed in between Resident Evil and Shaun of The Dead, but Gaara just didn't care. It wasn't like anyone was going to see it anyway.

A thought hit him. Shit. A bad thought...he was going to have to move all of this...his belongings, his stuff. To a new-room. All his posters would have to be carefully take down and replaced in some shitty dorm room where anyone could just walk in.

He sighed and flopped down onto his bed. The caffeine had erradicated all signs of tiredness and he was now incredibly bored. He reached over to his phone which was by his bear...yeah, he had a bear. Got a problem with it? True, it looked kind of pathetic after years of abuse from it's red-head owner, but it still had teh vague shape of a bear, just minus the ears and eyes. It looked a bit like a seal actually...but Gaara wasn't going to chuck it out. Throw away the only thing your father ever gave you? No. So it sat comfortably in between his pillow and his wall.

He flipped open his phone, and couldn't help feeling a twinge at the lack of messages and calls. Gaara knew he'd never get any calls or texts (mainly because he'd never given anyody his number) but every time he opened the thing..no...it was stupid. He closed it dejectedly and lay back onto his bed his eyes unblinking. He thought he heard someone come up the stairs and hover outside his room, but it could have been his imagination. That or Temari didn't dare come into the room.

Fuck them. If he happened to die in a fiery explosion caused by a bomb being planted somewhere in the school by a masked avenger then it was all their fault.

But, Gaara was serious. He felt, betrayed almost. Which was strange. He'd never felt betrayed before so it was new to him. Even when they'd insisted on him getting professional help he'd not felt betrayed. The professional help which had got them into debt. As far as Gaara could see, this was not his fault. They were the ones who had made him go to counciling. It wasn't his fault he heard homicidal voices in his dreams.

He closed his eyes briefly, snapping them open. He remembered a flash of blonde and blue eyes staring at him. Oh yeah. The jumper. He'd forgotten about him having been drenched in rain and accused of bankrupting his family. But now he couldn't forget him.

He'd done the right thing right? He'd walked on. Ignored it. But...now Gaara thought about it. He felt a bit weird. A bit, what's the word...guilty? Which scared the shit out of him. Gaara, _the _Gaara never felt something as mortal as 'guilt'. It wasn't right. It felt...horrible. He had the sudden urge to shake his head, to rid it of images of a bruised and beaten body, blue eyes staring lifelessly towards him, his hand stretching forward almost pointing to him, accusing him. Normally Gaara would have relished these thoughts and would be grinning at the sight of the blood, but for the first time in...along time, the image of a dead body made him feel slightly...sick.

Gaara thought it through. He wanted to die right? Gaara had let him, given him the choice. He'd even gone out to check if he'd done it, out of a morbid curiosity. There was no corpse, therefore, no suicide. So why was he feeling guilty!? He had the urge to drag his fingers through his hair angrily and scream. Punch a wall or something. But...for some weird reason, he had a greater urge. He wanted to know. To know why the blonde emo had wanted to cover the street below in his blood. Gaara felt a twinge of anger. If any one wanted to die, it should be him. That blonde boy was doing it for the attention. He couldn't possibly know real pain. Know no end to the constant void which was his life. If anything it should have been the otehr way round.

Shit...he was confused. Why couldn't he forget the bastard? Why couldn't he just blank all memories of it out? He growled and buried his head into his covers, attempting to erase all the nights events. It didn't work. And on top of that, he'd be moving to some fucking highschool surrounded by fucking people who wouldn't leave him the fuck alone!!

Fuck this. He bolted, ignoring the fact his clothes were still damp. He was Gaara. He was not effected by mere colds. He slouched over to his movie selection, his hand hovering over the Lion King, remembering it's significance to him when he was small, when he still had that child life innocence, when he didn't know that he was nothing special, just a quick shag between some bitch and his dad. But instead he picked up 'Freak Show' and slotted it into his TV's DVD player. He sat back down on the bed and watched, while the girl had her tongue cut off, lips sewn shut and the skin peeled from her body. He sighed contently. Now he could just lose his mind to the gore that plagued his screen...

NARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTO

The first thing Naruto heard was the cheery beginning to 'Caramelldansen'. He opened his eyes to his alarm and cursed. He thought he'd changed it. He thought he'd done it all profesionally and chosen 'Slit Wrist Theory' as his alarm in the late hours of the night. But no, he'd just had to wake up to the most happy song he'd ever heard. Another reason wo not do things in the dark. He grabbed his phone and silenced it, flicking through his sounds and choosing a more suitable alarm. There. He stretched upwards, suppressing a yawn and rubbing the sleep from his eyes with one hand. Joy. Another day. By all right's he should have been dead. No heartbeat and glassy eyes kind of dead. Not yawning and being in bed kind of dead.

Usually he'd have been woken up cruelly with ice-water or even worse, just not woken up at all so he would be late to all his lessons. However, no lessons today, and no chances. He had stuff to do. So he set his alarm and hoped that Sasuke and Kiba would be drunk somewhere and not plotting squirt ketchup on his face...hehe...they were probably too hung over, he thought.

He swung his legs over the bed and grabbed a red permanent marker which was on his bedside table and strode over to his calander. He crossed out yesterday (which was highlighted in several colours) and added a new objective. 'Find red-head'. There. Smiling slightly7, he capped the pen and threw in back where it belonged, grabbing his clothes. They were still slightly damp so he went into his small wardrobe. It really was too small, there was no way he'd fit in there to hang himself. He grabbed some random jeans and T-shirt, throwing it on and squeezing into the jeans, shoving a random hoddie over his head. He sneezed slightly. Great. He had a cold. Add that to the list of things he wouldn't have if he was dead.

He picked up his notebook and flipped over to the most recent (which by all rigths should not exits) and checked his 'to-do list'. So far there was 'find out who the random red-head bastard was' and 'commit suicide'. He thought...anything else? Well, afterhe completed numero uno on his list, he'd need to add some detail to the 'commit suicide part'. He suddenly felt angry...all his careful planning gone to waste. All of it. It had taken weeks to do, to find the location, the perfect time. But no. He shook his head. No. He couldn't think like that now. He needed to plan it. He needed to wait. He chucked his note-pad into his bag hastily, grabbing his i-pod and ramming it in his pocket.

He walked into the small shower room and stared into the mirror tracing the thin scars across his cheeks. He relished the small amount of pain he achieved from raking his sharp nail across his cheek, before smiling brightly into the mirror. Yesterday was an exeption. He broke his mask yesterday. He'd acted how he felt. No. That couldn't happen again. No one could suspect anything. He seen it in the movies, where the main character began a downward spiral into depression and tried to kill themselves but were stopped at the last moment by the one they loved...Naruto wan't that stupid. Letting someone know you were suicidal? The worst thing to do! Of course they'll stop you...(unless they're a heartless bastard like the red-head last night...wait...he'd have hated him if he tried to stop him as well...okay, he'd officially managed to confuse himself).

He shook his head, and grinned. It was the perfect smile, one which had been practised and perfected in the mirror multiple time. It was wide, but not wide enough to look like he was trying too hard. It was slightly lopsided, giving him a slightly dumb expression and it showed just the right amount of teeth to look bright, and relatively sincere. One thing he couldn't do was make his eyes look happy, so he just closed them, doing a pretty decent 'anime style smile'.

Happy his acting was okay and his mask perfectly in place he walked out the shower room, doing his 'I'm so happy I spew rainbows' walk, which had a slight leap in it. No...to much. He dulled it down to a normal pace. That was better. More normal. Grabbing his bag on the side, he was ready. Walking out, he locked his door and started...straight into Shikamaru. His bag tumbled to the floor, the objects tumbling out of his unzipped apartment.

He glanced up at the slighlty older, quite a bit taller boy. He had nothing against Shikamaru. He was alright. Decent. Didn't make fun of Naruto, but didn't go out of his way to be friendly. Left him alone. And Naruto was fine with that. It wasn't like he expected him to want to be friends or something...that was too much to ask.

He forced his face to look slightly sheepish.

"Sorry about that," he said. To his surprise he saw a hand hovering in front of his face. His eyes widened slightly as he took it, allowing himself to be pulled up. Well, that was new.

"Er...thanks," he said, cursing himself for sounding unsure. He was certain the other boy noticed as well as his eyes sharpened slightly as if picking up on something. He let go of Shikamaru's hand, feeling weird. He'd never really touched the other boy. He heard the other boy mutter something that sounded alot like 'troublesome' before replying.

"S'alright...just watch it in future,"

Naruto saw him stare hard at him, then look down at his items on the floor. Naruto panicked inwardly as he saw the othere boy reach down to pick them up...it was his notebook. His planning book. shit. He quickly lunged for it, but Shikamaru grabbed it first, staring weirdly at his actions. He found his book thrust at him.

"Here," the other boy said, shoving his hands in his pockets and walking down the stairs. Naruto waited, trying to calm his heart down, pinning his book to his chest. He sighed with relief. Well _that _nearly ruined his plans. He shoved it into his orange bag, zipping it up this time (no second chances) and walking down the stairs.

As he walked through the living room he noticed with supressed glee, a very hung over Sasuke sitting, head down groaning, aspirin fizzing in a glass being held by his shaking hand. Yes! Inner Naruto was currently high fiving anything that moved by real Naruto just walked on...straight into Kiba. Why the fuck di he keep walking into people, he thought mentaly. Luckily, he didn't fall over this time and straightened himself. He looked up (why was he so small?) at Kiba and saw a glare at him.

"Watch it," he heard kiba growl (god he was like a fucking dog). Naruto shrugged.

"What ever," he said brushing past him and walking into the kitchen, smiling fakely.

"Did you hear that Sasuke? Resident fag just full on shoved me," Kiba said loudly. Naruto could hear it plain as day.

He heard Sasuke groan slightly...which made him smile slightly for real. He w as still smiling when he saw Shikamaru leaning on the fridge watching him, and he converted his real smile into the fake grin before turning to turn the kettle on. He shoved some toast into the toaster and set it off, praying for it to hurry as he felt kind of awkward with Shikamaru in the room. The boy was too fucking clever. He could practically tell what you thinking...shit. Naruto seriously wondered for a second whether he could read minds, then was seriously scared at himself for believing that, if even for a second.

The toast popping out nearly gave him a heart attack and he grabbed the slightly burnt bread, dropping it on the bench. He grabbed a mug from the cupboard and threw in some coffe granules, showeing them in boiling water. He couldn't be bothered to add milk...that was the reason. Not becasuse Shikamaru was still watching him whilst leaning on it. No. Not at all. So he added some cold water to cool it down and sipped the caffeine, nibbling on his bread in between sips.

Noticing Shikamaru was STILL fucking standing there, he ammed the whole thing in his mouth and downed the coffe, smearing it across his arm and stalking out. Ha. That showed him.

"...and I still don't get it? the only people who speak French, are the French, so why are we learing French!" he heard Kiba declare obnoxiously loud. He saw Sasuke shaking with anger.

"Kiba?" he heard him ask softly.

"Er...yeah?"

"Shut the fuck up!!" he heard Sasuke shout, hitting Kiba with a loud 'thwack' across the head with the Kerrang magazine he was supposedly reading.

"Fuck you Sasuke, just because you're hung over...which makes no sense because you weren't fucking drunk!!" Kiba yelled, holding his abused head. Naruto watched the banter grinning slightly.

"A side effect...I get the worst fucking hangovers...which you are NOT HELPING WITH!" Sasuke shouted, one hand holding his head, the other waving the magazine around. Kiba ducked it.

"And...wait...how come you're not fucking puking your brains out?" Sasuke asked, glancing up. Kiba shrugged.

"A 'side effect'," he said sarcastically, doing the bunny-ear quote marks. Naruto couldn't help it. He snickered, immediately regretting it as two heads turned swiftly to glare at him. He felt his heart pound as they glared, all play forgotten.

"What you looking at fag?" Kiba asked, rasing one eyebrow. Naruto felt his heart ache...if only they knew he really was gay. He looked at Kiba and Sasuke dramatically raking his eyes over their bodies.

"Not much," he said, grinning disdainfully. Ha! Score one for Naruto.

"You checking us out?" Sasuke sneered, smirking. Er...shit?

"No," Naruto said, crossing his arms and scowling.

"Yeah right..." Kiba began, but Sasuke cut across him.

"Leave it Kiba. Whiskers looks like he's about to cry," Sasuke said, sounding gleeful at the prospect. Naruto wondered what they'd do if he really started crying. If he let one tear slide, his mask show through and the pain he really felt surface. Instead he snorted.

"I think your looking in the mirror bastard...you look like your about puke," Naruto said angrily. He turned around and walked out of the room ignoring the cries of 'Fag'. He felt his mask break slightly and for some reason, his yeyes fill with water...but the arival of Neji walking slowly down the stairs caused him to hastily wipe his eyes with his sleeve. When he removed his arm, he saw with a jolt, Neji standing in front of him looking at him oddly. Shit. He'd seen him. How the fuck did he get down the stairs that fast? Did he fucking levitate? God he was a fucking...

"Are you okay?"

...

Rewind. Did THE Neji Hyuga just ask if he was okay? Naruto almost burst out laughing. Was he okay? Was he OKAY? The twat in front of him didn't care. He asked because it was humane and polite, not becasuse he cared. Fuck him...he had to answer any way though.

"Yeah I'm fine," he said grinning. Neji's expression changed to the normal one he wore: disdain, and Naruto remembered why he hated him...he looked down on him. Literally and figurately (FUCK his petite stature). the first time he met him he worse a look of disgust. Like Naruto was some random tramp that happened to show up.

When Naruto first came to the 'dorms' he was so exited. He could remember the feeling. It made him sick now to think he thought it would change. He was so exited, he'd packed his small bag, washed and ironed his clothes and wore the bightest grin...He honestly thought people would treat him differently. When he first arrived he honestly thought he could make friends. AS Neji walked past him, not looking back, he remembered the first words he heard from him.

'Do you believe in destiny?'

Naruto was confused and had shook his head. Neji had given him a look of such loathing...and told him exactly what his fate was. 'you will fail'. Those three words made him realise that he was right. It wouldn't change. He almost laughed when he remembered Kiba's first words to him. 'Are you gay?' They said sooo much about the other boy it was funny.

Sasuke's way of 'welcoming' him were to laugh cruelly at his feeble 'Hi, I'm Naruto!'. 'Do you think i honestly care?' he'd asked him. And honestly...Naruto didn't think so.

Shrugging off these memories he walked to the door, only to be stopped by a vibration from his pocket and a loud declaring of Chevelle's the Red piercing through the lining of his pocket.

_They say freak,_

_When you're singled out,_

_The red, well it filters_ _through._

He hurriedly rammed his hand in his pocket pulling out his phone to read the text and walking out the door. Maybe he should change his text tone, make it less obvoius? Too late now, he doubted they hadn't heard Pete Loeffler's vocals piercing through the silence of the 'house'. Oh well. He opened his phone to read the text...from T-Mobile. 'Free text's for so many minutes'...he didn't give a flying fuck! Couldn't they just leave him alone. Being stalked by T-Mobile...not cool. He deleted it with an angry stab at the buttons and made his way to the bus stop. Today was Sunday. No lessons. And stuff to do. He'd planned it all out, and would have written it down but for the fact he had no pen to do so.

1. He needed to get the bus. He could check that off now as he saw it approaching, and gave it a mental tick.

2. Find the square where people in Sand hung out.

3. Scout said area for evil-red-heads.

It was a simple three-step plan...like a diet without losing the weight. As he sat on the bus, staring absently out of the window. He pulled out his i-pod and put the pods in his ears, flicking through his playlist. He remembered back to the days when he refused to kill himself, when he didn't have the guts. He was so scared he'd do it he created a playlist of 'happy songs' for when he felt the urge...most of them cheery happy, Generator by the Holloways, a load of rave songs, Shiny Happy People by REM. Funny thing that, everytime he'd listened to that song when he was crying so many times, whenever he heard it he felt the urge to cry...

Now his i-pod was taken over by songs about suicide. He found himself relating to them.

The bus came to a stop and he walked off with a small smile and a 'cheers' to the driver (who looked downright depressed...why were there never ANY good looking bus drivers? They were all either old men, of women who looked like men no offense people XD).

So...here he was. In sand. Now onto phase two (drumroll) find the bloody square. Thinking back on it, he really should have used a map, or at least google earth...he was put off google earth though for the fact that he couldn't stop laughing when he used it, ever since it gave him the instructions to go to France (he was bored and doing French homework...while on google earth). They were boring enough until it got to:

Turn Left

Cross the atlantic Ocean

Turn Right

Naruto couldn't stop laughing at the idea, and being full of caffeine and sugar, had gone into a full blown laugh attack. So maybe google earth wasn't such a good idea.

He sighehd, walking forward and past the bridge, trying desperately hard to ignore it. there. He'd made it past the bridge with the cars whirring underneath it...maybe he should do it during the day when the traffic's out to maximize the success rate? No...he couldn't think like that yet. He needed to find a certain red-head and figure out why he'd carried on walking...then kick the shit out of him for ruining his death.

Aha! He spoted a teenage boy leaning casually against a wall with...silver hair was it? Oh well, who was he to judge. No whe had two options: one, he could ask the boy where the 'square' was and probably look like a right idiot. Or two: he could stalk...follow the boy and hope he was heading towards the square. well option two was pretty stupid, so he steeled himself and walked upto him. the boy raised his head showing a pair of piercing greeny purple eyes. Naruto notice that in his left hand was a cigarette and a mineral water bottle in his right. A small black kitten was winding it's way around his ankles. Freaky much?

"What?" he asked sounding hard. Naruto wasn't scared though...that was the good thing about planning your death as the only reason he would fear this guy is because he looked vaguelly homicidal. but, as Naruto didn't fear death, he didjn't fear this dude who was currently sneering at him...shit his teeth were sharp. Er...maybe he couldn't afford braces?

Naruto thought it'd be better if he got straight to the point. Drop the act, fuck it. He didn't know this guy so it didn't matter as much.

"Look, this is going to sound completely retarded, but I need to know where the square is," he said. There. He said it. The boy looked vaguelly puzzled as if to say 'why aren't you running in feeear?'.

"er..square?" the boy said. Naruto nodded.

"yeah...place where people hang out," he said. The boy looked down and chuckled slightly. Fine. If he wasn't goint to tell him then Naruto would have to go on his own. Fuck him.

"Fine, you don't have to help if you don't want I was only asking," Naruto said, almost huffing and hoisting his sack up his shoulder. The boy looked up, confusion in his eyes and Naruto continued.

"Sorry for wasting your precious time," he said sarcastically. He normally wasn't this rude, but he had no time to waste with people who were going to laugh at him.

"What's your name," he heard, from behind him. It sounded more like a statement then a question, but he complied.

"Naruto," he said, warily. So what if he told him his name. He'd be dead soon enough. The boy pointed at himself lazily with his cigarette.

"Suigetsu," he said, smirking. Then he pointed behind Naruto.

"Straight on," he said before taking a swig of his water.

...

That was weird.

"Er...thanks," Naruto said, smiling slightly, before turning and making his way to the square. Weird...but he had better things to do then wonder about the sharp-toothed boy and headed in the direction he said. Weirder still someone had acted slightly decently towards him. But he'd told him directions so he seemed alright (minus the scary aura which seemed to scream 'back off, I have a water bottle'). Whatever...

He knew he had reached the square when he saw the groups of teenagers taking up the entire space. He walked into the centre, staring round, looking out for the red-head, ignoring the strange looks he was getting from everybody else. And so, he waited.

Four hours. Four fucking hours. And not one sign. Not one. The boy had looked like the type to hang out here, the perfect fucking type. And yet he hadn't shown up once and Naruto spent the entire day being stared at my millions of skinny jean clad teenagers (although some of them were quite hot Naruto had to admit). Treu he must have looked a right nerd, an isiot just standing there for hours on end. People probably thought he'd been stood up, meaning he was stared at even more. So, giving up, he sighed and walked back. He hated the feel of poeple eyes on his back, watching him. It made him so insecure and he usually acted rashly when he knew he was being watched. He walked back up the path he'd taken, walking past the lamp-post. He looked ahead to see the boy, still sitting there, although the water bottle was empty and the kitten had vanished.

"Find it?" the boy...Suigetsu was it? Asked him. Naruto was surprised he'd talked to him again, he'd presuemd he'd just ignore him. Not in the mood to speak, feeling incredibly dissapointed and tired, Naruto just nodded, keeping eye contact for a second before smiling dejectedly and walking on.

"See ya...Naruto," the boy said as he walked past. Had Naruto not been an incredibly man-like manly man he would have 'eeped', at the weirdness of it all. But he just put his hood up and carried on wallking. He-was-freaky! FREAKY! Yet for some reason he seemed less freaky the the red-head he'd seen the day before. The boy had a certain air about him and when...when he'd lookd him in the eyes...he was slightly shocked at how similair they were. Not the colour or shape or random eyeliner part, but the sadness kind of...glinted through. No. Naruto shook himself (not literally obviously). He was not meant to be feeling sorry for the bsatard who RUINED his death.

Speaking of which...he'd need to find another way of finding the red-head. He clearly wasn't going to be lurking round some square, and now Naruto thought about it, the idea was slightly stupid. He was probably a loner...meaning a place occupied by hunderds of teenagers would not be the first place he sould have looked.

He knew what he looked like. Red-hair, tattoo, clothes, aqaumarine eyes. Fat lot of help they were going to be. Naruto was currently on the bus wondering where he could look.

He suddenly felt depressed. There was no way he could find the red-head. There was no way. But...he really wanted to know. Why hadn't he stopped him. Why? And why were his eyes so sad? He felt a sudden determination. He'd seen him around here before right? He was bound to show up at some point right? Naruto would never give up!! Feeling renewed Naruto almost happi;y left the bus, muttering a 'thanks' to the driver (another one who looked about to top himself) and walked back to the dorms.

Reaching the doors, he typed in the code quick, not even bothering to look and opened the door quietly. He checked the coast, saw it was clear, and made his way up the stairs as fast as he could. Ah good. Someone coughSasukecough had though it would be a good idea to scrawl 'fag' on his door in cigarette ash. He opened it, deciding he could clean it off later, and grabbed his notebook. He wished the lock on his door was actually working and not broken, as it would save him having to take certain items with him when he left, but at least they decided that destroying his stuff was slightly harsh after what happened the last time.

They thought it was a _great _idea to come into his room and tear up his posters. They thought it was a great idea to have fun scattering his coursework across his room. Funny though...they looked slightly guilty when Naruto was told to re-write it all out after being shouted at in front of the whole class, and told that for handing in such 'dispicable' work, he would have detention for a week. They looked a bit more guilty when they found out that Naruto got fired from his job for missing too many days due to the detentions which coincided with time at the shop. How they found this out? Well in a rare moment of anger, Naruto had screamed it at them very loudly. Yeah...they looked slightly guilty for that.

But that was the past. This was now. And the future. Naruto got out his pen and opened his notebook. He had a few objectives to write...

tbc.

REVIEW peopleXD I want your opinion...was it okay? Are there any side-pairings (sorry but GAANARU is THE main pairing here lol) you want me to include?

OKAY. FirsT: sorry for the late update, my life is too hectic to even comment on. and TWO: SORRY if it was too boring...you can complain to me abou the boringness in REVIEW hint hint...but please don't complain that it was up too late...I've had a lot to deal with..and sorry if they're OOC...but in my defense they're in a AU so they're not going to be exactly the same

on a brighter note: next chapter SHALL be more exiting as Gaara is to move into his new 'home'...surprise surprise who does he see? and more over, what does he do? SO OBVIOUSLY THERE WILL BE ALOT MORE GAARA Pov...SORRY THERE WASN'T MUCH IN HERE XD :3


	3. Housemate

First I would like to thank freexflyer for beta'ing this chapter bows Thankyou so much XD

secondly here is the warnings :

This chapter contains swearing...quite a bit of swearing on one very bitchy Gaara so I apologise on his behalf XD

Disclaimer: the only I own on this page is the plot, I don't own any characters or books or films shoes, stuff ect. cries at how little she owns

!Chaptterr tthhrree:

GAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARA

Gaara stared dismally at the suitcase. It was black and shiny, never been used. There had never been a reason to use it. He'd never been on holiday, seeing as the sun hurt his skin and he was allergic foreigners... Not really, but they were bloody annoying (or so he'd heard). He'd never actually been abroad. But now he was going on something much worse then a holiday, as it was slightly more permanent. It was two words mixed together: high and school. High was good, it meant you were on drugs and having the trip of your life where even the walls were amazing. School...the opposite. Teachers and rules, two things Gaara hated. He only had one teacher and his name was unimportant, as Gaara never really used it. He just showed up and taught him maths. The idea of more than one of these 'things' was... a bit scary. Gaara would never admit it but, he was slightly unnerved. Slightly. Hardly at all. Yeah... But High plus School Equalled FUCKING MISERY, plainly put in a formula.

So he'd packed his belongings into the case and zipped it shut, being sure to make as much noise as possible whilst he dramatically slammed each object in. And the deed was done. But... should he take Chishio? His bear/seal. He didn't care if the other boys thought he was a pansy for having a bear, but he didn't want it to get any damage from them. He didn't want to walk in one day and find stuffing across his bed and the only present he'd ever got from his father lying dejectedly on the floor. No... he'd leave Chishio here. He looked in the mirror. Jeans, jacket, Vans. He looked... alright. Nothing major.

"Oi Gaara, hurry up," the voice of his brother came streaming through the floorboards and from the room beneath. Gaara sighed lightly and picked up his case, giving his room one last look, his eyes lingering on certain objects. He turned and walked away, never looking back. Trudging down the stairs with the suitcase was... depressing. It finally hit him. He was moving out. He was moving.

He glanced at Temari, who was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, noticing the red stained eyes and tissue in hand. At least she looked slightly composed. Kankuro was leaning against the wall, swinging the car keys round on his finger. He looked up as Gaara reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Shall we go?" he asked. Gaara glared at him, noticing the flinch from his brother."Gaara..." he heard Temari call softly. He turned to look at her. She was reaching her arms towards him, and Gaara recognised it as the beginning of a hug. He flinched slightly when she wrapped her arms round him, but didn't push her off for some reason, and raised on hand awkwardly to her back for a split second before dropping it. Temari must have sensed his stiffness and let him go, instead wiping her eyes 

with the tissue. Gaara stared at the crumpled up wet thing, being glad that it had gone nowhere near him.

"Bye," his sister said, giving him a watery smile.

"Bye," Gaara said, picking up the case that was leaning against the wall and lugging it out the front door. As it closed behind him he swore he heard a muffled sob, but payed it no heed as he dragged the case in an undignified fashion to the car where Kankuro was sitting. He opened the back door and lobbed the case in, before slamming the door and gliding into the fronts eat.

There was an awkward silence as Gaara left the small drive, which was probably the reason that his brother decided to turn on the radio.

'keep bleeding, keep keep bleeding love...'

Gaara felt his eye twitch at the grating wails emitting from the radio. He was praying that Kankuro didn't start joining in like he had done last time he'd driven, giving his own warbly rendition of Apologise. One Republic would have shot him dead had they heard their song being murdered like that. Luckily, Kankuro seemed to share his opinions on the song, and the car was soon silent. He heard his brother clear his throat.

"So...Gaara. Er...today and tomorrow there's a teachers strike so, you won't be in lessons. Er...maybe you can get to know some people in that time?" his brother asked, sounding awkward to say the least.

"What use would getting to know them be? It would be like having your murderer round for dinner," Gaara said, his voice emotionless. He heard Kankuro sigh. They turned right and there was another short silence. "You can come home for Christmas you know," Kankuro suggested.

Gaara scowled. Christmas. The time of year when paedophiles had an excuse to feel up small children whilst wearing a beard. He didn't say this, however, and merely shrugged.

"Look. Gaara. I'm sorry you're going to school. But can you at least stop acting like a five year old," Kankuro said, sounding agitated (if hitting the wheel was anything to go by). Gaara was pissed off, yet stuck. If he retorted and acted defiantly exclaiming, 'I'm not' then Kankuro would use that as an excuse to say, 'aha! Yes you are!' and so on and so forth. But if he didn't answer...

"For gods sake stop sulking Gaara," Kankuro said. Damn. He'd spent so long plotting his answer he'd inadvertently not answered. Gaara? The Gaara Sabaku sulking? The Gaara Sabaku did not sulk, he merely lapsed into long periods of silence. Brooding? Sure. Sulking? Not a snowball's chance in hell. More like plotting. Yeah...that sounded good.

"I'm plotting," he said, monotone. Okay maybe it didn't sound so good out loud.

"Sure, Gaara," Kankuro said, not really paying attention. Gaara's eye sure twitched alot, eh?

Gaara," Kankuro said after another silence. Gaara didn't particularly want to answer him, so he gave a small grunt. "Are you..." Kankuro began. Gaara glared at him to hurry up and spit out whatever the hell he wanted to say. Kankuro's face twisted into a scowl.

"You know what? Screw it!" he said sounding angry. Fine with him. FINE with him. Gaara folded his arms, looking out of the window absent mindedly.

"You'll be greeted by some teacher. They didn't have to come, they volunteered, so behave," Kankuro said to him after a while. Gaara just nodded. Whatever. If some random teacher wanted to waste their day off it was fine by him.

The car came to an abrupt stop outside some houses and apartments. Gaara looked to Kankuro in question.

"The house your staying in is near campus so somewhere round here... Hey, I think that's the teacher," Kankuro said pointing to a quite smartly dressed man in his mid twenties. He was wearing a shirt slung over a T-shirt, neat trousers and his hair was tied back in a ponytail. He had a scar right across his nose though, which changed Gaara's perspective of him almost immediately.

Gaara stepped out of the car before Kankuro and went round to grab his case, dragging across the ground with a horrible grating noise.

"Oi...wait!" his brother cried, and Gaara heard a door slam and running as Kankuro caught up to him. The scarred man seemed to notice them and gave a cheery wave, striding towards them.

"Hi!" he said grinning brightly "I'm Iruka Umino, one of the teachers down at the school. You must be Gaara." he said, sending the blinding grin toward the red head. Gaara gritted his teeth and nodded.

"Ah...I understand. A little shy?" Iruka said kindly. Shy? SHY?! Kankuro must have noticed the homicidal waves coming from him as Iruka was suddenly pelted with distracting questions.

"So the school has been informed about the payment?" he heard his brother ask. Iruka sent the beaming smile at his brother and nodded.

"Yes yes, we've sorted out everything so there's no need to worry," Gaara sighed inwardly, looking at the door in front of him. Green. It practically screamed 'paint me please!'. It was all peeling away at the edges and the only thing that looked relatively new was the security system on the wall by it's side, and even that looked slightly rusted.

"The students who live here have been informed of your arrival, so it won't be so much of a shock," Iruka said, chuckling slightly. Yeah, you chuckle. You're not the one being forced to live in a house full of idiots, Gaara thought angrily. He saw Iruka looking at him almost expectantly before saying cheerfully,

"Are you excited?" Excited. When thinking of how he felt, the word 'excited' didn't exactly fit the bill. More... pissed off? But noticing Kankuro's pleading look he gritted his teeth.

"Yes," he said, sounding the least excited possible, maybe to convey the fact that he possibly wasn't jumping for joy? It seemed to go straight over the man's head, though, as he nodded enthusiastically.

"Good, good. Well, the code to the house is...let me just see..." Iruka fumbled around in his pocket and brought out a crumpled piece of paper with scribbled writing strewn across it.

"Five three zero seven," he said, pronouncing each number carefully before grinning and shoving the paper back into his pocket.

"It never changes, so no worries...and the school was required to install a security system so it's perfectly safe," Iruka continued. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence before he continued.

"I'll... I'll give you some alone time to say your goodbyes then. Any questions Gaara?" Iruka asked kindly. "No," Gaara said in monotone. Iruka looked slightly annoyed at his dismissal, but continued anyway.

"Your timetable will be posted tomorrow, and although there is no curfew, I expect you to be sensible enough not to stay out too late," Iruka said cheerfully. Well... no curfew was good. But that was it, nothing else.

"If you have any questions just ask your housemates...I'm sure they'll all be willing to help you," Iruka said, gleaming once again. Gaara was slightly amazed at how wide his smile could get. If Gaara even attempted to smile like that (not that he would) his mouth would literally tear at the edges.

Gaara just nodded in answer and he swore he heard Iruka sigh, but then again it could have been Kankuro. Iruka walked off supposedly to leave Gaara and Kankuro some 'alone time'. What were they, parting lovers? What was Gaara supposed to do? Suddenly realise he had been wrong all along and run into his brothers arms begging for forgiveness? No. Kankuro would make do with a handshake.

He held out his hands, watching his brothers face flash with something, before grasping the hand and shaking slightly.

"Gaara...good luck," Kankuro said softly. Gaara felt something weird hearing that tone come from his normally loud and annoying brother but shrugged it off and nodded. Damn. What was the code again? Er...fivethreezeroseven? Yeah, that was it. He let go of his brother's hand, watching it drop almost dejectedly before being shoved in a pocket, and after wiping his hand on his jeans (ignoring Kankuro's wince) he grabbed his heavy case, shuffling towards the door.

Going to the lock he typed in the code with nimble fingers and watched as the door opened a crack. Using his foot, he kicked it open and dragged his case in. Looking round, he saw it was...okay. He slammed the door shut behind him and stood there for a few seconds. Now what? Maybe he should have waited for that Iruka guy...no, Gaara needed no help. He was independent. A lone wolf. And... kind of confused.

He heard footsteps above him then the familiar squeak of someone walking down stairs. Finally. Maybe they could point him in the direction of his room, then leave him the hell alone. The person walked down the stairs and... damn. Gaara's eyes widened a fraction.It was him. The blonde. The suicidal one. He saw the boy's eyes widen, then narrow...

"You..." he heard him say angrily.

NARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTO

Naruto was sitting cross-legged on his bed, his notepad open and scribbling down the ideas. The best time of day to go about killing himself was either midday or midnight. Midday would mean more traffic, meaning when he fell, he could also double the effect by being hit by a car. Voila! However, midday meant more chances of people seeing him, stopping him, ect. But midnight would mean no one around to stop him and... well, it's more romantic.

He could see it now: dying as the clock struck twelve. But... there would be no traffic, so if the fall didn't kill him, he really didn't feel like hanging around waiting to die in piercing agony. That would be kind of nasty. He wanted it to be perfect. Spot on. But first, operation redhead was still in motion.

For the past three days he'd been out searching, every day after lessons ended, just searching around Sand. Trying to spot him. But no. All he could spot was that creepy guy with the sharp teeth who seemed to showup...all the time! It was pissing him off now. Everywhere he went it would be 'Naruto', in that creepy metallic voice. But he had to find the boy. It was on his objective. It was in red pen! It was official! So he carried on. Luckily today was teacher strike so no lessons (inner Naruto was doing the macarena) and that meant a whole day searching.

He was fully dressed, decked out in the brightest colours he could find. He needed to wear bright colours, to counter attack the feelings inside. When you're wearing orange, you look happier, brighter. So he wore orange. Slipping into his trainers, laces hanging loosely at the sides, he grabbed his back pack. He checked his smile in the mirror and began his treck outwards.

Opening his door, he saw Shikamaru leaning against the wall outside. Okay, freaky much?

"Hi?" he said sounding unsure. Shikamaru seemed to notice him and nodded. Naruto was about to walk away when...

"Naruto," Shikamaru called quietly. Naruto turned slowly, feeling like he was about to be backed into a very small unescapable corner.

"Yeah?" he said, dragging out the word. Shikamaru pushed himself off of the wall, standing straight and putting his hands into his pockets. He walked over to Naruto.

"Have you heard about the new kid?" he asked. Naruto furrowed his brow. New kid?

"Er...no?" Naruto said, sounding confused. "There's a new kid?" he asked. Shikamaru nodded. Naruto scratched his head.

"No one told me." he said. Then again, it wasn't exactly surprising. He wasn't exactly on friendly terms with any of them...which led to the question, why the hell was Shikamaru telling him? Oh well. He smiled slightly, feeling just a tiny bit happier that someone was actually interacting with him. The smile was small, but genuine.

"Thanks Shikamaru," Naruto said. Shikamaru looked like he was about to say something else but closed his mouth. Weird... No, really. Why was he talking to him? Seriously. Was he just pretending to be friendly so he could laugh about how he'd 'tricked the freak' later on? Was it going to be a funny drunken story that he'd share with Kiba and Sasuke? He nearly smirked then and there. He'd 

show them. When he was dead they'd be sorry. Well... he didn't know that for certain, and he wouldn't ever know(maybe)because he'd be dead, but they'd hopefully be sorry. Sorry for treating him like they did. He closed his door, noticing the 'fag' that was still scrawled across his door. Great.

He saw Shikamaru's eyes follow his gaze.

"It was Sasuke, you know," he said. Naruto sighed, leaning against the wall. He ran a hand through his hair.

"Yeah, I know," he also knew he was sounding completely dejected at that moment in time in the presence of Shikamaru but hey, what did it matter? He'd be dead soon enough.

"Why don't you fight back?" Shikamaru's voice startled him, and the question itself... well... it couldn't hurt, right? He sighed and closed his eyes.

"What would be the point? Revenge solves nothing. Kiba's too weak to have his own opinion, so he adopts Sasuke's. Sasuke just has issues with me, why I don't know. Maybe one day I'll snap. One day I'll fight back. But right now I like to have control over my emotions... by not fighting back. I'm winning." he said, eyes still closed.

"Winning?" he heard Shikamaru's voice ask, sounding genuinely curious. Naruto turned his head and opened one eye to look at him.

"The game. If I fight back, I'm just like them. I'll lose, and if there's one thing I hate..." he opened both his eyes, and smiled slightly, now leaning with his shoulder on the wall

"...it's losing," He pushed off form the wall and hoisted his pack higher on his right shoulder, feeling it slip.

"Bye Shikamaru," he said, giving a small salute at Shikamaru's thoughtful expression. Naruto thought about the game called life. If he killed himself it would be like moving onto a new level. Good or bad, he'd never know until he tried it...but at least this way he had some control over the whole thing. Life? He could control his emotions. Death? He could manipulate it and plan it to perfection. He had such a crap life, surely he deserved a decent death right?

He heard the sound of a door slam. That would be the new kid, right? Smiling, he made his way to the stairs. Maybe he could make just one friend before he died. Just one. He felt a sudden happiness at the thought, and walked down the stairs. He could find the redhead after he greeted the new boy. He reached the bottom of the stairs, taking in the boys appearance...Wait a second. What the hell? WHAT THE HELL!? This...it was...him? What? how? Why? Huh?

He was wearing Vans slip-ons with skulls across his feet, a random black jacket with stars embroidered in the pocket and tight purple skinny jeans. Even with this costume change his face was the same, the angular cheekbones, cold piercing eyes, the random squiggle on his head (he really had to find out what it meant) and the same red hair that Naruto had been scouring the square for the last three days. It was still as red and flowing as before though he noticed it was a darker shade when seen under proper light, it was a more dark bloody red, like someone had just slit their wrists over his head. Maybe it was him, his skin was so death pale, but for some reason it contrasted with his eyes... But he was here...standing right in front of him... Anger suddenly filled him.

He was here, the bastard who'd ruined his death. The shock of him suddenly being here coupled with his anger, combining, making it almost impossible to keep his emotions in check.

"You..." he began. He could feel himself shaking from the anger. The boy's eyes looked slightly wide and shocked, but his face was just as impassive as when he'd first seen him.

"Me," the boy said. What? He just...he just mocked him. Naruto felt his fingers curl into fists and he ignored the nails digging into his skin. He hadn't felt this angry since...well, a long time.

"Damn you!" he said, beginning to walk towards him. Naruto stopped. And looked up. He hated being small...

"You bastard," he hissed. The redhead raised what should have been an eyebrow. Naruto could tell from the slight smirk in the corner of his lips that he knew exactly what he'd done. He leaned in closer.

"You know what you did you bastard. You ruined it," he whispered venomously. The boys didn't answer, instead brushed past him and began lugging a big black thing (a suitcase?) up the stairs. Did he even know where he was going? Naruto followed him.

"Hey, wait! I'm not done talking to you!" he began as he reached the top of the stairs, when he suddenly felt himself pinned to the wall, the boy's eyes glinting and his face twisted in a smirk. Naruto nearly gulped but restrained it.

"Leave me the hell alone," the boy said. No way. NO WAY! There was no way Naruto was just going to let him walk past him when he'd spent days looking for him! He wanted answers and he wanted them now. The boy let him go roughly and as he moved he saw Shikamaru, his door open, leaning by it, glaring at the new boy.

"What are you doing?" he heard Shikamaru ask sounding vaguely angry. That was a change... for one he didn't sound tired. The boy just walked straight past him, carting his case behind him. Naruto calmed himself down and slowed his breathing. He'd get no where by acting violent and for all he knew he'd already ruined his chances. He'd just have to play it nice.

"Do you even know where your room is?" Naruto called. Aha! He saw the boy stiffen. He began to walk towards him when a hand stopped him.

"Leave him Naruto," he heard Shikamaru say, the bored voice now back. Naruto shrugged then turned to face him.

"I need to ask him something," he said, wondering why Shikamaru was acting like that. He saw him sigh and nod, before retreating to his room. ...Okay? He walked to where the boy was standing stiffly and stopped behind him.

"I thought I told you to fuck off," the boy said icily, not even turning round.

"Nope," Naruto said. He was actually quite happy. He'd finally completed his first objective...all he needed to do now was find out why the boy in front of him hadn't stopped him. Then he could 

FINALLY kill himself. The anger at the boy was slowly fading. He'd still do it. He wouldn't stop him again. So there.

"Wanna know where your room is?" Naruto asked. Maybe if he did him a favour, he'd return it by explaining. The boy shrugged. Naruto looked around then stepped past him, checking around. Where was the spare room again? He never really felt the need to go past Lee and Kiba's rooms as there was no real reason why he should waste his time wandering around here. Aha...he pushed open the room he suspected and saw a bare room, no posters, no nothing, just a bed and...well, just a bed. He walked in dramatically, stretching.

"Here is your room voila," he said, waving his hand around randomly as the boy dragged his case into the shabby bedroom. He saw him look round in distaste.

"You can spruce it up if you want you know add some..."

"I said fuck off," the boy said monotone, glaring at him. He'd seen enough of Sasuke's glares to not be particularly bothered by it and the boy had one big fake smile coming his way.

"No!" he said cheerfully as if announcing it would be a sunny day, full of smiles and laughing children. The boy's glare deepened.

"I'm Naruto," he said, walking around and sitting on the boy's bed. He saw the redhead's eye twitch.

"Then fuck off Naruto," the boy said still glaring. Naruto laughed a bit. It was kind of funny.

"What's your name?" he asked, looking around the whole room attempting to look vaguely interested. There was silence.

"Gaara," Aha, so now he was getting somewhere.

"Well then, Gaara..." he began. For some reason the question 'Why didn't youstop me' didn't come out of his lips. For some reason he asked, just HAD to ask...

"You a natural redhead?" Why? Of all the questions he could have asked, why did he have to comment on his hair? The boy snorted.

"Just because you bleach your hair, doesn't mean we all do," Ouch. That one stung. Wait...he was a natural blond!

"I'll have you know, bleach has never once touched my hair!" Well...except when he fell asleep on his manga collection, but he wasn't that thick. He knew what he meant. The boy gave him a look then opened his mouth to announce

"Piss off," God, could the boy speak English? So far he'd only said one full sentence. Naruto decided to ignore him.

"You should watch out for Sasuke you know...he'd sadistic. He'll probably approach you first and try to intimidate you."

"Fuck off,"

"And Kiba...well he's like a dog with his master ya know...follows everything that bastard does..."

"Are you deaf?"

"So if I were you I'd just ignore them and lock your doors..."

"If you don't leave now..."

"They'll probably either recruit you or make your life hell..."

"FUCK OFF!" Gaara (that was his name right?) shouted at Naruto. Finally, he'd been waiting to get a rise out of him, to see if he was capable of real emotion. Tick off anger... Check. He smiled up at him from the bed.

"Want some help unpacking?" he asked. Gaara looked... a bit shocked really. Like no one had ever asked him for help. Who knows, maybe they hadn't. The boy searched his face, as if looking for ridicule, but Naruto was actually sincere. Why not help him? He was new and Naruto knew exactly how it felt. He knew only too well what it was like to be rejected by the boys downstairs. He wanted to help...he didn't know why, but Gaara reminded him of himself. Naruto...he wanted to know why his eyes were so sad. Why they were like what he saw reflected in the mirror every morning...

"Alright," the boy said, sounding weary. What? He'd actually said yes...

GAANARUGAANARUGAANARUGAANARU

This boy was so damn ANNOYING. He knew his eyes was twitching, but damnit, he didn't care. The little brat before him thought he had the right to sit on his bed? His bed! Hadn't he made it clear enough that he didn't want to talk to him? It was enough of a shock to see the boy who had plagued his mind for some weird reason for the past four days, but to have him follow him around...Why couldn't he just shut the hell up? Seriously. He was just ranting on about some little shit called Sasgay, and some idiot called Keyba or something like that, and he wouldn't shut up.

See? He knew it would be like this annoying. He didn't want friends (well, maybe a tiny small slither inside of him could possibly be okay with having someone as a 'friend', but it was very small and compressed, hardly even there...a bit like his conscience). He'd even given him his name. He didn't know why, but the question had caught him off guard, and something stirred inside him. He'd just answered. So now the twerp was sitting there using his name and...

"Want some help unpacking?"What? Did he just ask whether he needed help? Half of him was offended that this boy, Naruto (wasn't that a fishcake in Japanese or something?) had thought he needed help. The other half... He looked up and saw the boy's eyes stare into his. They were so... clear. So blue, so... weird. But it was that freaky quality about them that made him not want to tear his eyes from them. His face was lightly tanned, framed by his choppy bangs that hung around his eyes, giving his face an eerie shadow. But... he looked so sincere. Like he actually wanted to help.

That had never happened before. His sister said she wanted to help, but he knew she only did it because it were her duty as his older sister. Same with Kankuro. They had no choice. They never volunteered to do anything. And here was this boy, asking to help him...

"Alright," he heard himself say, and for some reason the boy's eyes lit up. Funny, it made him feel all weird inside... He brushed it aside and unzipped his case, flinging it open and looking around. That shelf could be for his books, he decided, seeing a dusty looking crooked one hanging on a peeling wall. The boy in the meantime had sat down cross-legged by the case and was staring inside. Gaara reached in and grabbed his book, flinging them at the boy who caught them with a 'gaah!'.

Gaara shrugged. He was the one who wanted to help right? He saw Naruto look through them and start reading some of the titles out-loud.

"Flashback by Michael Palmer...who's Michael Palmer?" Naruto asked, sounding genuinely interested. Gaara shrugged.

"An author," he said condescendingly. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"I know that," he said, and Gaara watched as he walked over to the book shelf and placed the books on the shelf. He then proceeded to place them in size order, with the longest spine on the right going to the shortest on the left. Gaara watched as he put his hands on his hips and examined them, looking proud and muttering "There, all neat," and he couldn't help but think he was maybe just a little bit... cute? Only he'd never admit it out loud, and tore his eyes away from the boy, instead grabbing his pile of clothes and walking over to the dusty small wardrobe. How small?

"They're a bit small," Gaara turned around, staring at Naruto, who seemed to read his mind. "You'll get used to it," he said smiling, and for once Gaara had the tiniest urge to smile back. But he fought his lip muscles and remained blank.

"Anything else?" Naruto asked. Gaara pointed with his free hand to the remaining books that he hadn't thrown at the boy.

"God...you must read allot," Naruto said.

"So?" Gaara said icily.

"Just sayin'. No need to get so touchy," Naruto said, and Gaara watched him out of the corner of his eye pick up the books and walk over to the shelf, slotting in size order between the spines. Gaara turned back to the wardrobe and placed his clothes in a pile. He kind of wished he'd accepted Temari's offer to fold his clothes instead of slamming the door in her face, as they were all creased and jumbled, looking like a dirty washing pile. He shrugged. Oh well. Turning round he saw Naruto staring at a book, reading the blurb.

"The Chocolate War?" he heard Naruto mutter.

"What's it about?" he heard Naruto ask, tilting his head up. Gaara avoided his eyes, but answered anyway.

"Bullying," he said simply. Naruto nodded before placing it back onto the shelf and for some reason Gaara found himself saying "You can borrow it, if you like." Why? He didn't know. He just acted on a random impulse. Maybe he'd take the book and leave...yeah.

"Really?" Naruto asked him, sounding slightly suspicious, but looking quite happy. Gaara nodded slightly, walking back to his case and grabbing his posters.

"Thanks," he heard the other boy mutter, and take the book back off the shelf holding it awkwardly. There was a bit of an awkward silence. Gaara was surprised actually. He thought the boy was going to ask him why he hadn't stopped him. He'd seemed accusative enough downstairs, but now he was acting all happy and sickly sweet. Well not that sweet, but bloody annoying. Could he be bipolar? It made sense, but it also made Gaara want to massage his temples. He refrained from doing so, instead walking to the wall and pinning his posters up with the blue-tac still attached.

"Need anymore help?" he heard Naruto ask. He turned round and shook his head.

"Okay then...see you later Gaara," the boy said smiling, then waltzing out the room holding Gaara's book (which he still had no idea why he was lending out to such an annoying prick). He checked the room for anything else, and decided to abandon his unpacking in favour for locking the door and laying back on his musty sheets. Didn't they ever change them? Dirty bastards.

Well this sucked. He was in a dorm with a ton of boys, one of which was INCREDIBLY annoying. Speaking of him, Naruto, what the hell? Hadn't the boy been about to kill himself just days before? What's with the happy perky act? Or, could it be that... Could it be an act? Act or not, it was making his brain hurt. First he was angry (Why? He had no idea), and then he was all happy 'let me help you unpack, Gaara; let me lick your shoes, Gaara' kind of way. Grr. One thing for sure. Gaara HATED confusion. Bloody hated it. Which was why he was going to figure out this Naruto. Why he was annoying him, why he was angry at him, why he helped him, why he wanted to kill himself. When he knew those things he could fuck off for all he cared.

He just... intrigued him. That was all. It definitely wasn't the way his eyes looked when he was slightly shocked(because Gaara blatantly hadn't been looking at that at all). So he was hot, big deal. But what Gaara really wanted to know was why the hell he started wanting to know things. 'Gaah!' he screamed mentally. So confusing. He rubbed his eyes, careful not to smudge the thin layer of mascara which helped cover up his insomnia. No what did he do? He was in the room. His new 'home'. And he had unpacked. Screw this, he thought getting up. He was getting out of here. He sidestepped his suitcase and flicked the lock from the door, walking out into the empty landing. Looking left and right (you can never be too careful)he began his journey down the stairs, almost flinching every time they creaked.

He was about to leave when he came face to face with a boy, about his height with raven hair, spiked up at the back. Was it supposed to look cool? It made him look like a tramp. But worse, worse then the hair, the boy was smirking. At him. At THE Gaara. Well screw this.

"You the new kid?" the boy stated (it wasn't really a question...it was kind of obvious). Gaara didn't feel the need to answer, instead deciding to walk straight past him, ignoring the slight look of shock on his face.

"Oi, wait! Think you're tough or something?" the boy asked. This must be that Sasgay that Naruto was ranting about. He wasn't worth it.

"OI!" he felt the boy grab his arm, his sharp little nails piercing though the fabric. He turned his head sharply.

"Get off," he said, his voice low and deadly. The bastard in front of him didn't seem to register the evil that was pouring from him though and continued to smirk.

"I just wanted to let you know..."

"Get off," Gaara said. The boy ignored him again.

"He's a freak. A fag..." he heard Sasuke say. Who? Oh...right. Naruto. For some really weird reason, this made him want to punch him even more.

"Just letting you know..." the boy continued sounding like he was doing him a favour. Hm. Oh look. He was still attached to his arm. And whaddaya know, his hand has decided to form a fist.

SMACK

That sounded good, Gaara thought as he watched the raven haired boy fly back into the wall, his pretty boy face colliding with the plaster. At least he'd let go of his arm now.

"Bastard!," the boy shouted loudly clutching his face. Gaara just ignored him and carried on his way to the door, swinging it open and walking out, the breeze causing his hair to flutter around his face. He knew the boy was still watching so turned back dramatically, glaring at him as the door shut with a slam.

There. That was one down, so many to go. He'd make sure they all knew, he wanted no friends. He...damn. He'd forgotten about the annoying one. Well, he didn't count. He was vaguely interesting and until Gaara had his answers he supposed he could bear his presence for a while. There. All sorted. He looked around him before beginning to walk forward, his legs taking him wherever they wanted to go. It was better then staying there, right?

NARUNAUNARUNARUNARUNARUNARUNARUNARU

Naruto was sitting staring at the cover of the book. The Chocolate War? Sounded messy. He put the book on the floor, contemplating whether he should read it or not. If he decided he did in fact want to read it, he would have to add it to his 'to do list'...just to finalise it. Maybe later... for now he thought about his plan.

Gaara...hmm... He seemed interesting enough. Naruto didn't know why he went about helping him, and not demanding answers, but...Oh well. It would be nice to have a friend. He'd like to have a friend before he died. The idea suddenly appealed to him. He'd never really had a friend and, well, it would be nice. He reached over to his abandoned bag and pulled out the notebook. 'Make friends with Gaara'. There. He found his mouth forming a small smile and a small bubble of happiness filled him. He could have a friend! In fact, he could have a really hot friend, he thought smirking. But... wouldn't it be a bit cruel to befriend him just before he was about to kill himself? A bit selfish? Well...after years of selflessness, never doing anything truly for himself, he deserved a break. He deserved to be a bit selfish. And Gaara seemed to be the type who'd not really care if he dies anyway, so he could have fun with him, and die with no hard feelings! There! He felt like high fiving 

something or someone but refrained his hand from high fiving the lamp (mainly because he'd look like a bit of a twat), when he suddenly heard a loud

"Bastard!" coming from the bottom of the stairs. Sounded like Sasuke was starting on Gaara already. Naruto got up, dusted himself and walked down the stairs slowly to see Sasuke clutching his face and the door swinging shut.Gaara1 Sasuke0. He stared at Sasuke for a moment, feeling a twinge of pity for no known reason (damn his sensitive soul) when Sasuke's head shot up, glaring at him.

"What you looking at fag?" he said venomously and the tiny amount of pity and sympathy he possessed for him vanished in an instance, being replaced with general anger. Naruto however, chose to be the bigger man and ignore him, walking past him and into the kitchen. Ha! That showed him. Luckily he hadn't decided to follow him and Naruto saw him skulk off into the living room. Naruto walked into the kitchen, realising that he now had an entirely free day. He'd inadvertently found the redhead, now known as Gaara. Gaara. Gaara. Hmm. It fitted him quite well. It had quite a ring to it that gave Naruto the urge to repeat it out loud. But he noticed Neji sitting down in the corner, so decided against it.

He walked over to the counter and grabbed the kettle, walking to the tap and filling it up.

"There's a filter on the fridge," he heard. He turned his head sharply to see Nejii staring at him. Naruto shrugged.

"Yeah, but the kettle doesn't fit," he said, turning the tap off and placing the kettle on the metal stand.

"Doesn't fit?" he heard Neji ask. Why was he talking to him again? He sighed turning round and walking to the fridge, pointing at the filter's lever.

"This is the filter," he said simply "the space under it is this big," he said pointing to the stand where you placed your cups "the kettle is this big" he said, holding his hands apart vertically "It won't fit," he said simply.

He realised his hands were still in the position and dropped them by his sides with a small blush realising the implied innuendo. He saw Neji smirk a bit. Feeling suddenly awkward, he went into the cupboard and rummaged round for a mug. He slammed it on the counter emptying five sweeteners into from the packet on the bench before shoving a spoon of coffee granules in and waited for the water to boil.

"You use sweeteners?" he heard Neji ask. What was with the damn questions today? Why did he care if he used sweeteners? He didn't care about him, so why was he asking? Naruto leaned back on the counter, resting his elbows there.

"Yes," he said simply. No shit-Sherlock. He looked at the kettle, seeing the steam indicating it was boiling and he picked it up, pouring it in swiftly. He walked to the tap and poured some water in to cool it down before sipping it. Ahh... just the right temperature. He then proceeded to gulp the caffeine down in record time and slammed the empty mug on the sink.

"Do you..." Neji began to ask. Naruto turned round swiftly. He was fed up of this.

"Why are you asking? You don't really care?" he said, his eyes full of confusion. He shook his head.

"You know what, just don't tell me...I don't think I'll want to know," he said, walking out the room. One last glance at Neji showed him opening his mouth to say something, but Naruto walked out before it could be said, mentally patting himself on the back for showing such strong backbone. A glance into the living room showed Lee sitting next to Kiba, talking in hushed voices and Sasuke sitting on the other side of the room, staring into space. It was genuinely creepy watching the stoic boy 'space out', but Naruto shook of the feeling.

Maybe he should take a leaf out of Gaara's book and just go out for a bit. Yeah. He'd go to the square again. It was quite peaceful there (once Naruto found that if you didn't stand in the middle looking like a moron, people didn't look at you as much). So he walked out and closed the door, relishing the breeze that fluttered past him. He took the familiar route to the bus stop, taking out his bus card as he went. Sure enough, there it was arriving. Such good timing, he thought feeling vaguely happy. He stepped on, placing his card on the machine and walking to the back of the bus where no one sat. Finally. He was out of that house. His eyes widened as he remembered the object lying on the floor of his bedroom, open and vulnerable. His backpack. But not only that, what was in his backpack. His notebook. Shit..

.tbc.

REVIEW!! I type faster LOL XD

okay...any advice? Comments??

nxt chapter:

do you want me to make Sasuke find Naruto's notebook? If so should he be EVIL! and blackmail him or GUILTY for teasing him and develop a one sided crush on Naruto...? Or what...something else? Tell me in the review :3

love you if you've read this (more if you've REVIEWED hint hint) and tune in for next chapter waves

xxx


	4. hated memories and panic

YEY! Chapter four people XD is exited I'd just like to thank all of you for your reviews...I'm really sorry if I didn't reply, my internet kept crashing so...sorry XD but anyways if your reading this (even just to laugh at my crappy attempt of writing) I love you XD

L for love people XD

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any products/bands mentioned on this page so please don't sue me XD

Warnings: er...I don't know I haven't written it yet? Probably language...yeah XD

chapter four

Gaara couldn't help but question his decision to leave the dorm and his house mates and embark on a quest for freedom...more like wander aimlessly around wondering why he even bothered. He couldn't help but wonder whether he should have just stayed in the confines of his new room and lay facing the ceiling on his bed until dawn as he contemplated the best method of skewering his brother. Ah yes, a favourite past time of his, he would while away many hours thinking of new techniques...obviously it wasn't all he thought about. Sure he had normal thoughts. They were just battered down by the abnormal thoughts for being so dull...

But that was all besides the point. It was all irrelevant. What _was _relevant was the fact that he was standing in a park cold wet and growing more annoyed by the second. But he didn't want to go back to that house full of idiots. He'd only seen three of them and already he was completely put off the idea of living with them. His thoughts flashed back to the blonde boy.

Naruto. Hmm. He seemed slightly...different. He was definitely more annoying, but less annoying as well...he was annoying in a way that he could tolerate. Whereas that weird one with the black hair made him want to punch him. It wasn't his fault he was acting like a bastard. If he hadn't done that, he wouldn't have punched him. So it was completely the other boy's fault. Yeah.

His fist was aching slightly and he smirked slightly, remembering the boy he'd hit fly back and hit the wall...if only the mind had instant replay so he could watch his moment of glory in slow motion (maybe even fast-motion...it was always funnier that way). But seriously who did he think he was? Telling Gaara, yes Gaara exactly who not to hang round with. Firstly, just to be clear, Gaara did not 'hang round' with people. If people were with him it was by mere coincidence. They were just hovering round him like moths to a light. Secondly, Gaara did not need, nor take advice. If he wanted it...no...Gaara never wanted nor needed advice. He was given it on occasion (usually by Temari) but did everything in his power not to follow it. So when this prick decided to confront him and tell him who to avoid...well. It wasn' his fault his fist happened to move, hitting the pretty boy face (which was obviously in the way).

It was pretty cold. Gaara cast his eyes around the park one last time before turning around and heading out. He needed that, a walk. To clear his head of thoughts. Sure the raven haired guy annoyed him, but he didn't really want to have serious homicidal thoughts, serious ones where he actually wanted to kill him. It was that kind of thinking that made him need 'help'. It was that kind of thinking that had cost more then his house. So that kind of thinking had to stop.

He was slightly confused now. But he ignored that feeling of confusion and widened his strides. He'd only walked a short distance, ended up in a random park and was now walking back. Nothing wrong with that.

He felt a twinge of pain and recognised it as the oncoming of a severe headache. Great. Not surprising, but just great (sarcasm dully noted). He was slightly thankful he'd allowed Temari to pack tonne of aspirin. He'd really wanted to just ignore her and not bring it, just because it her her fault he was going to have leave in the first place...kind of

...kind of. But he realised that not only would that be stupid, but it could be reverse psychology ...she could be telling him to bring it knowing he won't bring it because she told him to bring it so that he won't bring it because she wants him to suffer...there. There was no way he'd fall for that trick. But why would she do that when she always seemed to care so much?

Gaara decided to halt his thoughts there before they got any more confusing, and because somewhere during his mental...thing...he'd reached the door in all its hideous-green-glory. What was the thingy code again? Gaara thought back to the annoying man who he'd met earlier, Iruka something. Five-thee-zero-seven he'd said? He typed it in, and gave a smug smirk as the door clicked open.

He swung the door open dramatically and silently walked in, glancing round for any bastards. Nope. Kicking the door shut behind him, he walked to the stairs, listening at the top...he heard muffled voices, but determining them to be out of his caring distance, he walked up the stairs. He felt his eye twitch at the squeak and decided to stamp extra hard on the last step. Just because. As he reached the top he glanced around and couldn't help but notice the boy whose name he did not know walk randomly into a room.

Gaara watched as the pineapple head swung the door shut slightly, the word 'FAG' having been scratched into the wood with cigarette ash.

Now Gaara knew it was none of his business, but he could have sworn that that was that blonde kid, Naruto's room. And...for some really weird reason, Gaara started to get slightly pissed off at the fact that some random kid had just walked right in there. It was probably because he was slightly pissed, and slightly curious that he just so happened to wander over to the door. It wasn't his fault that who ever was in there was pretty loud.

"Why are you in Naruto's room," he heard a voice drawl almost lazily. He heard the sound of rapid scuffling and something being dropped.

"Why do you need to know? What, are you going to go tell that fag or something?" another voice shot out...Gaara recognised it as the bastard who he'd hit earlier (a small smirk at the returning memory).

"What are you doing?" the same lazy voice asked. It must be the pineapple one, unless there were three people in the room. Bastard and pineapple. Sounded like a cocktail. You'd need some french bit in there though like 'bastard et pineapple'...no now it sounded like some random perfume brand...

"Nothing...why do you care?" the bastard's voice drifted through the door.

"Sasuke...what are you doing?" the lazy voice asked. There was a moments silence.

"I...I don't know,"

"What did you drop?"

"..."

"Is...is that Naruto's journal?" the lazy voice asked, sounding slightly angry now.

"No! It's...I don't know I haven't read it...I don't want to read it, it's probably just some faggy diary," funny...the bastard sounded kind of nervous.

"Well then let..."

"No!...just leave it there...it was there to start with...we don't want him knowing we were here..."

"You sure you didn't read it?"

"Read it? I don't want to touch it after it's been anywhere near his hands god knows what he does with them."

"So why are you in his room?"

"...I...I wanted to..."

"Just get out Sasuke,"

"I'm leaving..."

"So leave,"

"You leave...get lost,"

"What ever,"

Gaara listened to the unsure bastard and the pissed off pineapple, before realising that the prolonged silence probably meant that he should step off the door. As he hurled himself (with incredible grace obviously) away from the door and attempted to look nonchalant, the door swung open slightly and the pineapple walked out. Gaara felt his piercing gaze on him, but carried on leaning against the wall. After a few seconds he stopped gazing at the ceiling and fixed the pineapple with a glare.

"What," he said his voice deep and threatening. He made sure that he curled his lip at the end, showing his white canines for a second...(and no he blatantly did NOT practise this in the mirror).

The pineapple just switched his face into a lay back expression and shrugged, before slouching back to what Gaara presumed was his room.

Soon as that was over, the door opened for a second time, this time the bastard appearing, a blank calculating expression on his face. He scowled at Gaara, (who gladly returned it) before shoving past him as he made his way down the stairs. Had he been within arm distance pretty boy would have 'fallen' down the stairs, but the bastard somehow managed to glide down them. But seriously...how he'd even managed to shove past someone who was leaning against a wall was a feat on its own.

But Gaara was actually pissed off. What right did that bastard have to shove him? Sure he'd hit him, but he'd been asking for it. Who gave him the right to glare at him like he'd done something wrong, what right did he have to go into the blonde kid's room and go through his stuff?

Okay, maybe that was the real reason Gaara was angry, but Gaara knew that he wouldn't like to have some bastard going through his stuff.

Now he thought about it...the blonde was suicidal right? So that journal/diary thing was bound to have a load of stuff he'd probably not want others to read. Which raised the question...had the bastard read it? He certainly looked...weird when he came out. He'd sounded confused as hell in the room. But, surely if he'd read it, he wouldn't still be calling him 'fag' and stuff. Surely he'd lay off the insults? Well, apparently not.

Whatever. Gaara could feel his brain start to ache and he forced the conversation he'd heard to the back of his mind, instead thinking about the glorious invention called 'aspirin'.

NARUNARUNARUNARUNARUNARUNARUNARUNARUARU

Naruto could feel the panic grow. It was icy, like when you missed a step on the stair and went flying forward. The shock only really registered later on, when your hair stood on end and you breathing sped up. But this panic just kept on growing.

His notebook. His check-list. It was in his room. His room which had no lock. So people could just walk right on in. Right on in and read it. And here he was, halfway towards the square, is feet not even stopping. Stop damn you!

"Yo Naruto," he heard, and felt the urge to turn round incredibly fast as the metallic voice of the creepy boy reached his ears. He raised his head and gave a half-hearted wave...he really should be heading back to the bus. He turned around and began walking the other way.

"Naruto," god will he not shut up? He turned around angrily to see a slightly deranged smirk on the boys face.

"Come here," he said beckoning with one finger, before taking a swig of water. Naruto suppressed his anger and walked over...he'd better make this quick.

"What?" he asked, not bothering to mask his annoyance. The boy's expression changed into one of confusion.

"I just wanted to show you something," he said, looking slightly hurt. Naruto forced himself to calm down and gave a strained smile to the freak he hardly knew.

"Look, sorry, I'm just _really _need to get home," he said, putting stress onto the 'really', hoping he'd take the hint.

"It'll only take a second," the boy said, reaching behind him, pulling out a sharp shiny sword. Naruto's eyes widened slightly at the sight of the object, but he didn't let it register in his voice.

"That's nice," he said calmly. The boy smirked.

"It's a collectors item...I'm going to buy all seven," he said, seeming quite pleased with himself coughfreakcough.

"Yeah, good luck with that," he said scratching the back of his head. The boy smiled at him.

"Yeah...I've really gotta go," Naruto said, edging away slowly. The boy smiled at him, showing his sharpened teeth.

"Bye," he said. God, what dentistry would do for that boy, Naruto thought, repressing a shiver at the creepy smile, as he waved slightly and began to walk back to the bus stop.

That was when it kicked in. What if he found it? What...what if he...Naruto didn't want to think about the consequences.

They weren't supposed to know, he thought angrily, he was supposed to be dead when they found out about it. That was how he planned it, that was how it had to be. If they found out before hand, they could stop him doing it. He wanted to be found dead. No found out he wanted to be dead. Just dead. Lifeless. On the concrete, his blood pooling from his head, his expression serene and peaceful, his skin a pale white, almost as pale as his scars as the ambulance sirens deafened all those who watched, as the zip was pulled up and his body in the bag, as the school found out through a phonecall that one of it's students dies tragically yesterday taking his own life...his eyes open as he gazed out of his coffin, his skin now paler with a fake rosy hue painted onto his rotting flesh...his skin so white it was like Gaara's...hey...now there's a thought. Gaara, the only friend of this tragic victim, deeply saddened by his death...

That was how it was supposed to be. Nothing could get in the way. He needed to find out about Gaara, tick that off the list, write a suicide note, place it somewhere it wouldn't get chucked out, and die.

He felt tears well up in the back of his eyes, thinking of their reactions. Laughter. Heavy laughter. 'Yeah right fag...go on then do it, slit your wrists!'. They'd taunt him thinking it was a joke. No. He didn't want to see their reactions. That was why he going to kill himself before they found out. They could be guilty, but if they weren't, if they were glad he was dead. He couldn't take it.

He was confused, and now impatiently waiting for the bus to arrive. He subconsciously remembered when his room had last been intruded on, what they'd decided to do to the 'freak'...

(sorry people, it's a pretty angsty flashback)

He watched as the remains of his posters fell from his wall, his Three Days' Grace poster lying in half by his bed. It had been trampled on by the looks of it, and, oh look, had 'fag' strewn across Adam Gontier's face, leaving him indistinguishable. Naruto just walked up to it slowly, tears welling in his eyes as he dropped to his knees beside it. He picked it up, the image itself being burred by his tears, before letting it drop limply to the floor. But no...they hadn't. Naruto's hand darted out to the too familiar sheet of paper, with the rows of typed out word and just stared at it, willing it to be anything but his coursework.

He'd spent everyday for a week doing it, trudging to the library and typing it out diligantly. And here it was. Ripped, and dirty. God, one page even had a foot print on it. He grabbed it, furiusly wiping the hot tears form his eyes as he gritted his teeth. Standing he tore out of his room and stormed down the stairs into the living room.

Sasuke was sitting on the sofa next to Kiba. Lee was opposite them on the sofa chair, and as soon as Naruto walked in the room, he knew they'd done it. The way Sasuke had a smug little grin on his face. The way Kiba was trying desperately hard not to laugh. The way Lee looked so exited, like he'd won a marathon. And Naruto just shook his head at the boys, silently laughing and avoiding eye contact. He just...he couldn't believe it. That they'd actually go into his room and through his stuff. That they'd go as far as to trample his coursework.

He couldn't say anything, words weren't being formed, so he just looked down at the ground, crumpling the work in his fist and storming out. He wouldn't give them the satisfaction of seeing him cry. As he walked out the room, he heard spluttering laughter.

"Oh my god, did you see his face," he heard Kiba gasp. He pictured it in his mind, his shoulders moving up and down, his hand over his mouth, his eyes watering. He could see Sasuke smirking, his eyes dancing with unshed laughter, and he lost it. Whipping round, he pulled his arm back and slammed his fist into the wall, feeling his knuckles split as they hit the plaster. He felt the sudden ache and heard the sudden silence that follpwed the 'thud', then it was broken by reignited laughter.

"Do you think he fell over?" he heard Kiba ask.

"What do you think? He'd a complete idiot," he heard Sasuke say sounding so superior. Naruto cradled his hand.

"Probably just having a hissy fit because we 'ruined his story'," Kiba said, going all high pitched. Story? More like ten hours work for an English essay. And they thought it was...a story. Naruto couldn't believe it. He still couldn't believe it, even though he was sitting on his bed wondering whether or not straighteners would work on his coursework, and if they did, how to go about aquiring Sasuke's. Don't get me wrong, the anger was still there, but it was being dulled by the small voice in his head which was saying 'well, what did you expect?'.

What did he expect? Not much. He was getting a lot though. Alot of shit. And he was getting tired. Just...tired of it all. He sighed flopping back on his bed.

The anger was still there when he had to hand the work in, but was replaced with more fear. Fear of the dissapointment from the teacher. Fear from being ridiculed in front of class.

"Naruto Uzumaki," he heard his name called, and raised his head from the desk, trudging to the teacher and handing it over silently. As usual the class was secretly watching, so it made it much worse when he heard Anko ask icily.

"What is this?"

He didn't know how to answer, so kept quiet. He instead looked at the heavily sellotaped and creased, dirty footrpint ridden work.

"What is this?" she asked, her voice raising in volume, as she slammed the work down on the desk.

"My coursework miss," he said quietly. The class was completely silent, watching him, he could feel their eyes on the back of his neck.

"Do you honestly expect me to send this dispicable work off to examiners?" she asked, waving it in front of him. The action caused the front page to fully tear and flutter to the ground in front of him.

"What did you do to it? Is this a joke?" she asked.

"No miss," he said, keeping his voice even whilst wringing his bruised hand.

"Then what happened?" she asked, spit flying, arms waving, veins showing...she was all in all not very happy. Naruto gulped. What had happened was that his dorm 'mates' had decided to rip it up and trample it. But what he said was.

"Nothing," and said it looking so defiantly, that had you not seen it, you would have believed that nothing had happened. However she did in fact see the work, and did see that it was falling apart.

"Detention," she said coldly, throwing Naruto's hard work into the recycling next her. Naruto had expected that...he'd just have to call the shop and tell them he couldn't come in for...

"For a week. One hour every night, this room," Anko shouted.

"Sit back down," she said, shaking her head. Naruto turned round, noticing everyone's head's whip back to their own work as if they hadn't been watching him like a freak show. As he sat down, there were a few snickers, and for some reason Naruto couldn't help but look at the desk where Sasuke and Kiba were sitting. Funny. They looked round when they saw him watching. Even weirder they looked sort of uncomfortable. Almost slightly guilty.

And as Naruto stumbled into the shop one week later, the bell tinkling lightly, his mouth forming words...

"Don't even bother," the man at the desk said, placing various manga back onto the shelves behind him.

"But I...why?" Naruto asked the man, trying to catch his breath. He'd just got the text 'don't bother coming into work again'.

"I have someone more reliable then you working here now," the man said shrugging. Naruto felt himself shrink, but his anger grow.

"So your firing me," he said through gritted teeth "because I got into detention for something that was not my fault,"

"You must have done something wrong," the man said, turning his back to him. Naruto felt like tearing his hair out. He walked up to the desk.

"Please," he pleaded, "I need the money.." he said, but the man cut across him.

"And that is why you are being replaced,"

"Whaa?" Naruto asked, his mouth open "because I want to be PAID?" he shouted, waving his arms upwards.

"No...because you have no respect. You are here soly for cash, whereas Shino has a genuine interest in the art, known as 'manga'" the man said. Naruto growled. Was he an idiot

"I know it's 'manga'...but I need the money," he said angrily.

"Ask your parents if your so strapped for cash," the man said uncaring. Naruto bowed his head angrily before turning on his heel and walking out, slamming the door with a bang and passing some random kid with a coat and sunglasses.

He couldn't tell him, couldn't just say 'yeah, about that, I don't have parents, never have, so asking them for money would be pretty much impossible'. Instead he shoved his hands into his pockets angrily, almost ripping straight through the thin lining and began to walk back down the street to the dorm.

Everynight after his detention (which had consisted of him doing various tedious work) he had headed out to the library to retype out his essay. It had taken the piss and in the end he'd just give up and missed out major chunks of it, meaning he'd no doubt have a much lower grade then he'd wanted.

He gritted his teeth at the mental image of Sasuke kicking his work across the room. And now. Well what now? He had no job. The meagre allowance he was given by his aunt would only go so far. And that selfish idiot at the shop he'd told him the first day that he couldn't go in for work. He specificaly told him. t obviously didn't change anything, he was still fired, and now without a job.

He felt like his skin was on fire he was so angry. He was surprised people weren't looking at him more strangely the normal. Couldn't they see it? The furious rage that was at that moment in time: Naruto.

Then he was there. At the dorm. And the door was open. And he was walking into the front room, slamming the door shut.

The faces in the room turned to see him. Sasuke, Kiba, Lee. Shikamaru was there as well, and the kettle boiling in the kitchen told him where Neji was. But he didn't care about them. Not right then. The talking stopped and Sasuke gave him an odd look.

"What do you want fag?" he asked, casually. Naruto looked at the floor, his teeth gritted. His frustration burst out in a mad fit of laughter, the anger he felt bubbling through in insane giggles, as he tried to contain himself. He looked up, still laughing and looked him dead in the face. Wow. The bastard actually had a different facial expression. Slight shock and slight wariness.

"What do I want?" he asked. The laughter stopped.

"What do I want?" he asked again, emphasising the 'I' by stabbing his chest with his finger. His fingers curled into fists.

"I want..." he began. What did he want. His job? A life? Friends?

"Look. If your just gonna stand there being all freaky can you go away. We're talking," Kiba said, gesturing slightly to Sasuke. Naruto felt the anger swirl.

"No," he said through his teeth. There was silence.

"It's your fault," he whispered. Sasuke's face changed to one of amusement.

"What? What's my fault?" he asked, smirking slightly "the fact your a loser is no ones fault but your own...the fact you have no friends what-so-ever has nothing to do with me. The fact.."

"Shut up," Naruto said. Each word was barked out quietly. He looked at Sasuke, his eyes pooling with angry tears, but he refused to let them fall. He'd had enough.

"SHUT UP!" he said, stalking towards the trio (mainly Sasuke).

"What right did you have? To go into my room? To ruin the coursework I had spent ten fucking hours writing!" Naruto said, starting off normal, but his anger causing his words to turn into shriek at the end, the volume raising and Naruto walking forward until his face was mere inches from Sasuke's.

"It' your fault," he spat "that I had to retype it. It's your fault, that I LOST MY JOB! It's now gonna be YOUR fault that I'll be living off the money that myfuckingauntgivesmewhichisnotENOUGHFORMETOLIVEON!!" he said, his words becoming mixed and jumbled, being screamed at Sasuke in one breath.

Then silence. No one talked as Naruto held his head in his hands, breathing heavily. Had Naruto looked up he would have seen a guilty look flash across the occupants in the room. Had he looked up he would have seen Neji standing, mouth agape against the door frame of the kitchen. Had he looked up he would have seen Shikamaru's eyes wide and his lay back expression replaced by shock. But Naruto did not look up. He just turned around and climbed the stairs to his room.

He was sitting on his bed in a cross legged position even hours after this had happened. He sat, his notebook strewn across his knees.

This was it. He'd finally realised it. It wasn't going to get any better! What was he thinking? It would never get better, and it would definitely get worse. He pressed his pen into his finger, creating a small crater in his skin, and watched as it faded out. His eyes drifted over to the title at the top of his fresh page. 'Commit Suicide'. He smiled.

This had got to be the best idea he'd thought of in along time. A one way ticket out of his depression. Now he'd just have to plan it. His death. His smile turned into a flat out grin as he thought of it...it was going to end...

(end flashback...my god that was long. Sorry!!)

In a strange sense of deja-vu he was standing outside the dorm door, only this time it was not anger that paralysed him, but fear. It wasn't real fear, just a heightened sense of panic akin to fear which had the similar effects: the urge to run away, far away (and in Naruto's case find an elf, although that could just be Naruto's weird obsession with elves kicking in).

He steeled himself and typed in the code quick before grabbing the handle of the door. There was a click and it opened slightly. Naruto took a breath before gicing it a slight shove and opening, stepping in quick. He saw Sasuke walk through the hall and glare at him but he ignored that and began and practically dashing up the stairs. He nearly knocked someone over in his speedy dash up the steps, and grabbed the person by the arm roughly before they fell.

"Sorry," he muttered, walking past and into the corridor.

"Naruto? Are you, okay?" ah great, he'd nearly killed Neji. And oh look a that, Neji was talking to him. Why? He didn't honestly care?

"I'm fine," he called over his shoulder, and it seemed to shut him up because there was no reply.

He pressed against the door, letting it slowly creak open, before leaping inside. Naruto gave a quick look around his room, and the panic lessened (so much so that he stepped out of his 'ninja pose' and dropped his hands from their 'intimidating' angles). Maybe no-one had gone in.

His eyes rested on the notebook on the floor next to his bag. Then again maybe they had.

Naruto kicked back the despair to the back of his mind and instead grabbed his book and flicked through it. He felt his heart drop into his stomach. The last page was ripped slightly, like someone had decided to tear it out and had changed their mind at the last minute. He shut it and shoved it into the bottom of his bag, zipping it up and shouldering it.

So. Who had read it, he thought surprising himself with his calm attitude. He couldn't go and ask anyone, it would give it away. And, why was there a tear? Was it Sasuke (most likely option). If so why had he acted perfectly normal when he'd seen him before?

Confusion threatened to overpower him and he felt the urge to list his problems, but that was what had got him in this problem in the first place so no, that was not an option.

That annoyingly familiar feeling in the back of his eyes was slowly creeping up as he sat dejectedly on the bed staring at his backpack. If he was dead, he wouldn't have this problem. If he was dead he'd be, well, dead. If he was dead there'd be no confusion, no risk. But he had a schedule to keep.

He had to be friends with the redhead Gaara. Then he had to kill himself. He wrote it down. But he kind of wished he hadn't. He kind of wished he could just forget the list and get it over with now. But it was too late for that now. He wanted no regrets when he died, and not knowing why he hadn't stopped him would count as a regret.

He gripped his hair. He hated this so much, feeling this confused. But he forced his feelings down and slapped a fake smile on his face. He was going to visit a certain red-head...

tbc.

First: review please XD I thrive of the comments and all that jazz :)

second: I don't like this chapter...I'm sorry it sucks so much bows head If you like it then YEY, but I'm kind of disappointed...it's so confusing

third: it's REAL slow, and this chapter had like, no GaaNaru in it so sorry for that...but please understand I need these crappy boring chapters to help get the REAL plot along.

So next chapter eh?: Find out! Who read the notebook? Had Sasuke been lying? Had Shikamaru risked a peek? Had Gaara doubled back out of curiosity? Or was it unread? Duh duh duuuh!! Yeah, so keep peeled for the next chapter (fittingly entitled) Annoying Gaara (hehe)

an yeah, bear with me on the updating people...I have had so much to do, and basically have had no will to write or live hardly so bear with me.

loves

XD


	5. Annoying Gaara

OMG OMG OMG...NEW CHAPTER PEOPLES:

Right...about the updates, YES they're going to take a while and you may grow angry at me and threaten to kill your computer (or you may not care and be like 'yeah whatever...I don't care') either way...I'm on my final year and taking my GCSEs next may/june time, and i've mocks before december so cravetherave is a very busy bunny..lol that sounded retarded...anyway, I'm apologising in advance for the lack of updates it's just that I need these results for the rest of my life you know...anyway just ignore me and enjoy le chapter...sory for it being a big let down compared to the BIG wait...sorry..I'll TRY to update sooner then before but every time I say that, I er...kinda don't?

warnings: er...crap author??

Disclaimer: yes I fully disclaim everything on this page minus the plot XD

CHAPTER FIVE YEAH

Naruto steeled himself to meet Gaara, his potential friend. He was outside the red-head's door, fumbling with his rucksack, wondering what to say. His eye's wheeled round the hallway, lingering on the random pieces of mould that grew there. He had to do this. Taking a deep breath he walked to the door and raised his wrist rapping his swollen knuckles lightly on the door. Ever since he'd punched that wall they'd looked odd, deformed...oh well. It's not like it made a major difference to his life. He wasn't a hand model or something. God...that must be such an easy job. Displaying your hand with various rings and jewelery on it. Even the fugliest person could be a hand model if they used enough moisturiser...

Naruto shook his head, no, he could think about hand models to his hearts content later in the privacy of his room...hmm...that sounds slightly perverted...no. He had to think about the task at hand, the quest he was about to take. Heh, quest made everything sound so much better. Like, 'my quest is to bake this cake' or something. But baking cakes was fun anyway so...

He needed to concentrate. He was here to make friends with Gaara, Gaara who was standing looking at him with a slightly strange expression on his face. Shit...Naruto needed to do something, he needed to come up with something both sophisticated and mature...

"Er...whaaa?"

He inwardly cursed his attention span for being the size of a snail.

"I said what do you want," Gaara said, speaking each word like he was retarded. Naruto fought down the slight blush for being caught so distracted.

"Yeah...I knew that," he said defiantly. There was a moments silence.

"Knew what," Gaara asked monotone.

"I knew that you said that," Naruto said.

"Well..." Gaara said, gesturing for him to continue.

"Well what?" Naruto said, his face scrunching up. This was all too confusing. It was like tuning into a Lost episode years after watching the last.

"What do you want?" Gaara asked. Naruto's mouth opened in a silent 'oh' of comprehension.

"Well I was bored," he said cheerfully, eye's closed typical anime style and hand behind head, a pose practised often and perfected to well, perfection.

"So, you knocked on my door," Gaara said, sounding vaguely annoyed. Naruto, taking confidence from the fact it was only a vague annoyance continued.

"Yeah, see I figured you'd be a bit bored too seen as you were new here and had nothing to do..."

"I was busy," Gaara said cutting across him.

"Doing what?" Naruto asked, looking behind the boy to see what he was doing. The room was exactly the same as it had been last time he'd seen it except the blinds were now closed and the light was off.

"Gaara...your lights are off," Naruto said.

"So?" Gaara asked, acting slightly defensive.

"Hey, just saying...what were you doing in there anyway, pretending to be a vampire?" Naruto said, laughing at the imagery of the red-head leaping from his bed with a cape and fake fangs screaming 'I am zee creature of zee night, fear me mortals'.

There was a silence.

"Er...Gaara...you weren't really pretending to be a vampire right?" Naruto asked, feeling slightly awkward.

"No," the other boy quickly barked out avoiding eye contact.

Awkwaaaard.

Well who was he to judge, his hobby was making lists, so...

"Hey, can I come in?" Naruto asked brightly, changing the subject. The redhead opened his mouth and closed it, before nodding.

"Whatever," he heard him mutter. Naruto smiled and walked in behind him, shutting the door quietly.

"Hey Gaara?" he asked.

"What," the redhead replied somewhere from by his bed.

"If I turn on the light will you melt?" Naruto asked laughing. He couldn't resist.

"What do you think," Gaara asked angrily from where he was perched on the bed. Nartuto grinned mischievously.

"I think you will, I think you'll turn into a puddle like that witch from wizard of oz," Naruto said giggling. There was silence.

"Haven't you ever seen The Wizard of Oz?" Naruto asked, walking over to where the light switch should be and feeling around.

"No," the other boy relplied.

"Oh," Naruto said, running his fingers across the wall.

"You know, not being able to see is almost as bad as being blind you know," Naruto said knowingly.

"It's the same thing," Gaara muttered. Naruto heard and waved him off.

"Whatever, all I'm saying is, you shouldn't go round in the dark coz people who really can't see would love to be able to see, and your almost mocking them by not taking advantage of your eyesight," Naruto said as he found the switch and gave it a flick, casting the room in light.

"That almost made sense in a retarded kind of way," Gaara said dryly.

"Yeah yeah," Naruto said, resisting the urge to fall to the floor shrieking 'the light it buuuurnnssss!!'.

"Anyways, being in the dark is bad for your health...you can walk into things," Naruto said nodding.

"Maybe for someone short as you," Gaara said, looking pointedly down on him where he had flopped crosslegged on the floor.

"I'll have you know I'm teller than most things. Traffic cones, small children, dish spoons..." Naruto said, counting on his fingers. Funny, Gaara looked like he was just about to laugh, but caught himself at the last moment. He was getting somewhere.

"Dish spoons?" Gaara said, questioningly. Naruto nodded.

"Yup. It's amazing how small they are lying upright in the dishwasher, and the gratifaction I have from being able to look down at them," Naruto said beaming. Yeah he was acting an idiot, but if it got him a friend who cared?

"I think you mean satisfaction," Gaara said.

"You do like correcting people don't you?" Naruto asked, or rather stated.

"It's not like it's a a hobby," Gaara said quielty, looking anywhere but at Naruto. There was a moments silence.

"Sooo...what made you change?" Naruto asked. Gaara looked vaguelly confused.

"Change?" he asked. Naruto nodded.

"Yup, change. One minute you were hating me, and the next you lent me a book," he said smiling.

"You hadn't done anything really wrong," he heard Gaara mutter quietly under his breath like he was telling himself. Naruto felt something at hearing Gaara say that, and couldn't help but form a small genuine smile.

"Anyway, I have to thank you," Naruto said, stretching his legs out in front of him and leaning back onto his hands.

"Why?" Gaara asked, looking down.

"For hitting that bastard right in the pretty boy face," Naruto said laughing. He though he heard him mutter 'I didn't do it for you', but completely ignored this fact and continued.

"I told you he was a bastard didn't I? God, I hate him," Naruto said shaking his head bitterly.

"Why? Does he bully you?" he heard Gaara ask, smirking slightly. Naruto cocked his head to the side, looking thoughtful.

"Kind of. He's just a bastard. I just try to ignore him when I can," Naruto said. His eyes drifted over to the shelves and his eyes widened at the familiar sights of zombie fest films. And they were videos...how retro.

"So I take it you like zombies," he said, glancing over the collection best he could from his position on the floor.

"Yeah, so?" Gaara said.

"God, your so defensive. I'm not saying it's a bad thing," Naruto said, glancing back at Gaara before looking at the collection again. Whatever, he couldn't really see any films he hadn't seen so he couldn't ask to borrow any. Wait...what was that film? The Lion King?

"The Lion King?" he said out loud. He looked over to Gaara who looked slightly pissed off.

"It's for sentimental reasons," Gaara said. Naruto looked confused.

"Er...okay. What's it about, any good," he asked, blinking innocently. Gaara seemed slightly shocked.

"It's a Disney film," Gaara said, as if that would tell him anything.

"I haven't seen much Disney," Naruto said, his gaze unwavering. Gaara's eyes narrowed as if to see if he was joking or not, before sighing.

"It's about lions," he said.

"Well duh, it is called the Lion King," Naruto said smiling. Gaara's eye really did twitch alot when you watched it.

"If you don't want me to tell you..."

"Aww no, common. Tell me," Naruto said, pouting slightly. Gaara was avoiding eye contact now. Weird.

"There's a...lion. He's called Simba. His father is the King. He..."

"Oh come on, tell it with a bit more description. You sound a bit robotic," Naruto said. There was that twitch again.

"As I was saying, he has an uncle called Scar who kills his dad and Simba kills him, the end," Gaara said, crossing his pale arms across his chest.

"Aw, now you ruined it for me," Naruto said pouting. If looks could kill, he was pretty sure he'd be dead by now.

"You asked for me to tell you," Gaara said angrily. Naruto waved him off.

"Yeah yeah, I'm just kidding with ya," he said winking. He noticed Gaara's pale skin turn slightly red and wondered if he was embarrassed or something.

"So can I borrow it?" Naruto asked. He saw Gaara contemplating with his inner demons before nodding.

"Yey!" Naruto said, giving Gaara the peace sign, before standing up and walking towards the shelf. He picked up the film...

"Hey it's a cartoon," Naruto said wheeling round to face Gaara. Gaara shrugged.

"You failed to tell me this," Naruto said, looking at the back of the video and taking in the valuable information.

"Thanks," he said, letting a real smile grace his face before looking sheepish "I'm kinda borrowing alot of your stuff huh?"

Gaara just shrugged.

"You can borrow some stuff from me if you like?" Naruto said brightly. Gaara just muttered 'whatever' and looked anywhere but at his eyes. Naruto nodded. That had gone better then he'd expected.

"I'm gonna go now," he said pointing to the door. Gaara shrugged.

"See ya," he said waving happily. He smiled at the small but very wavy wave he recieved back, and the way Gaara seemed to glare at his hand as if it had acted against his will. Snickering, he hefted the video and walked out the room.

"Keep the light on or you could walk into something," he said over his shoulder.

"No because I'm not retarded like you," he heard called back.

"Your just jealous of my dazzling personality," he shouted, shutting the door before the other boy could reply. Score.

"Er...Naruto?"

Oh great. He'd just passed Shikamaru who had apparently said something to him. Funny how people who hated you pretended to care whenever they felt like it.

"What?" he asked, softening his voice, not letting the sudden anger seep through.

"Are you...er...never mind," he heard the pony tailed boy say, trailing off at the end. What was with these boys and avoiding eye contact. Naruto personally loved to stare straight into other peoples eyes to detect whether or not they were lying. But that was just him.

"Oh. Okay then. Bye," he said, walking past Shikamaru who for some reason looked like he wanted to kick himself. He heard the trade mark 'troublesome' muttered underneath the other boys breath but ignored that and walked into his room.

He glanced once more at the film, and shrugged slinging it onto his bed. He'd watch it later. But now he had to go through his progress!

He'd done pretty well. He'd had a relatively civil conversation and well, maybe even had fun. So that was what it was like to have friends? He would have done a dramatic pose and punched the air yelling 'yaaay', but that would just be plain weird.

Gaara. It was strange. He'd only known him for what, a day? and already he seemed comfortable around him. He seemed...well...Naruto fought down the blush that threatened to appear. He had to admit, the red-head was quite hot. No...it would never work. He was going to die soon any way...

He wondered whether it was slightly selfish to befriend someone just before he was about to die. But hey, he was going to kill himslef, he had a right to selfish. Right? Right.

He considered writing in his notebook, before deciding against it. No. It was that stupid thing which may or may not have been read, but likely was, which got him so stressed in the first place. He really needed a laptop. Something he could type on and have a password on so nobody but him could read it. He could actually keep a diary on it. But they were too expensive and..hey...so what if they were expensive? He was going to be dead soon so there was no point in saving money up. He might as well blow his savings on something he was going to use. Yes He'd buy a laptop. If he had one at that moment in time he would check on the internet to see where they sold them. But as he did not he made a mental note to go into town the next weekend, look in random electronic stores and be spontaneos. Basically blow all his money on a computer.

Yeah...that would be a good idea. He smiled to himself, his confused mind happy at the prospect of internet access. Maybe he could find a site to download manga or something...yeah.

Grinning he reached over to his ipod and unwound the headphones from it, securing them into his ears. Cranking the volume up he closed his eyes, relishing in the angsty lyrics piercing his ear drums.

_I dream about, how its going to end,_

_Approaching me quickly,_

_Leaving a life of fear,_

_I only want my mind to be clear,_

_People, making fun of me,_

_For no reason but jealousy,_

_I fantasise about my death,_

_Ill kill myself from holding my breath,_

* * *

When Gaara heard the annoying knock at his door (and yes it was perfectly possible for a knock to sound annoying...how you ask? Just ask Gaara. The way the person on the other side of the door hit the wood made it sound like they were playing the door as some sort of instrument...very badly. You know the annoying knocks that preppy people have that just make you want to spite them by not opening the door and leaving them standly there with the inhuman grin stuck on their happy little faces? Well it was like that) he was seriously considering smashing his head into the door. But not only would that wreck his hair, it would also be completely pointless.

He'd been fine, just fine lying there in total darkness imagining himself to be inside a coffin, the creatures of the night around him. Instead of dreaming, where he'd see things and hear voices telling him to do things...to see what it looked like running down, oh so red and tangy, the metallic taste lingering on his lips as he...no, now was not the time to be thinking of...'that'. Some idiot on the other side of that door obviously decided to come and waste his precious time, and he dind't want to waste time thinking what to do about them.

He could just leave them...but then he wouldn't have the satisfaction of saying 'no' to them when they asked to come in. Hmmm. Decisions decisions, so many decisions.

Screw it. He swung open the door to come face to face with the boy he'd met earlier, Naruto or something. Joy. He'd obviously not been satisfied with annoying him earlier, so had decided to come and annoy him even more.

"What do you want?" he asked no emotion at all in his voice save a hint of annoyance. The boy just stood there looking blank. Okaaaay. Well that was random. Who knocks on someones door then just stands there ignoring them...well obviously Naruto but...oh whatever.

"Er...whaaaa?" wow it can speak. And it almost formed a sentence...let's all clap sarcastically.

"I said what do you want," Gaara said slowly. He thought he noticed a small blush on the blonde's face and ignored the slight twinge he felt.

"Yeah...I knew that," The blonde said.

"Knew what,"

"I knew that you said that,"

"Well..." Gaara said, gesturing for him to continue. Gaara couldn't stop thinking about the boy's face with the slight pink twinge across it, his eyes downcast and an embarressed expression across his sharp features. The boy just looked so...what was the word? Cute? Gaara did not say the 'cute' word though.

Wait, he thought. The boy in front of him was obviously depressed (he had tried to kill himself that normally is a clue)

He continued on autopilot, answering when appropriate until one sentence caught his attention.

" ...I figured you'd be a bit bored too seen as you were new here and had nothing to do..."

"I was busy," Gaara said cutting across him. He didn't want the boy to think he was bored. In fact it was quite the opposite. What Gaara had been doing was incredibly productive...yeah...

"Doing what?" he just had to ask didn't he? Well Gaara wasn't about to answer. That idiot had no right knowing what amazingly amazing things Gaara had been doing which were twenty time more exiting then talking to him...so there.

"Gaara...your lights are off," Naruto said randomly.

"So?" Gaara asked, acting slightly defensive. Why was he being defensive? There as nothing wrong with having the lights out. It saved energy, saved the planet even.

"Hey, just saying...what were you doing in there anyway, pretending to be a vampire?" There was a silence. Naruto had not just asked him that.

"Er...Gaara...you weren't really pretending to be a vampire right?" Naruto asked. Apparently he had.

"No," Gaara said quickly, fighting down the blush at the awkward silence that followed.

"Hey, can I come in?" Gaara looked down to see Naruto smiling up at him, his eyes wide...holy shit were his eyes big. Since when were they so big? And blue...so blue...

"Whatever," he muttered. He blamed it all on those eyes. Damn them eyes for being so bright and warm and everything that Gara strove to avoid.

"Hey Gaara?" the blue eyed boy asked.

"What," the redhead replied sitting down on his bed, trying to rid his head of images of a smiling Naruto.

"If I turn on the light will you melt?" Hahahahaha...no. That was so not funny.

"What do you think," Gaara asked angrily not particularly liking the look of mischief on the others face.

"I think you will, I think you'll turn into a puddle like that witch from wizard of oz," Naruto said giggling. Did he just giggle? Boy's don't do that right?

"Haven't you ever seen The Wizard of Oz?"

"No," he replied. What, was he supposed to? Was this some code all teenage boy's were meant to have? Because if so, that sounded retarded.

"Oh," Naruto said, running his fingers across the wall. Gaara's eyes flickered to the other boy's fingers watching as they stroked the wall, his mind forming images of those finger's caressing...

"You know, not being able to see is almost as bad as being blind you know," Naruto said cutting across his thoughts. Well that spoilt the mood.

"It's the same thing," Gaara muttered, feeling odd that his head had actually formed images of...well that!

"Whatever, all I'm saying is, you shouldn't go round in the dark coz people who really can't see would love to be able to see, and your almost mocking them by not taking advantage of your eyesight," Naruto said. He'd obviously found the switch as light soon replaced the dark and Gaara winced at the sudden brightness.

"That almost made sense in a retarded kind of way," Gaara said dryly.

"Yeah yeah," Naruto said, smiling, his eyes crinkling. There was that weird feeling again, that almost happy feeling he got as he saw the boy's smile.

"Anyways, being in the dark is bad for your health...you can walk into things," Naruto said nodding. Gaara resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

Gaara was...pretty shocked how the next events played out. They talked, as in had a proper conversation. He even lent him a film. The Lion King. It was almost, fun.

He'd never really had many friends. Scratch that, he'd never had any friends. He didn't see any need for them. They were merely there. Not that there were many opportunities to make friends back at that place. He didn't go to school and for the short period that he had, they'd all just avoided him after his first friend fiasco. Now he hadn't had much experience in the friend field, but he didn't suppose 'friends' shoved you head first into the sandbox. And he didn't think that if he ever had a friend he would hit him so hard that his head would fly back into the flowerbeds with a crack because he shoved him head first into a sandbox. But he didn't have friends so he wasn't sure. It was the kid's fault for shoving him into the sandbox. He merely retaliated.

"I'm gonna go now," the blonde said, breaking his thoughts. Gaara shrugged. He wasn't bothered. He definitely didn't care that he'd be alone...again. He blatantly hated the company of the other boy. Right?

"See ya!" the boys said waving. Coincidentally Gaara's hand just so happened to spasm at that moment in time giving the appearance of a wave, but it was clearly a spasm. Definately not a wave. Gaara glared at it any way for defying him.

"Turn the light on or you could walk into something," Naruto called to him over his shoulder.

"No because I'm not retarded like you," Gaara returned, shutting the door not sure if Naruto had heard his last scathing remark.

Gaara could feel his face heat up at the mere thought of Naruto. His subconscious seemed to be determined to get him to do something...he just wished he knew what it was!

He'd never had thoughts like this before. Never. All about one short blonde suicidal...suicidal. Yeah. The boy was suicidal. Funny that. How that one thought was making his insides squirm and clench. Before he'd happily walked away. Why did he start caring now? Since when did Gaara, the master of defying emotion start to actually 'care'? And since when did Gaara start focusing his attention onthe other boy's lips...so...soft.

He almost shook his head to rid it of the thoughts. No. Gaara couldn't care and wouldn't care. Starting tomorow he was going back to being emotionless, replying with only the ocassional grunt. He'd figure out why the bastard wanted to kill himself and he'd figure out why he hadn't, and why he was angry and why he decided to help him then he would make him leave him the hell alone.

Pushing down the small insignificant guilt and the small voice called hope telling him it was his only chance to make a friend, he walked over to the light, switched it off and prepared himself for a restless night.

tbc.

review? I'll loooove you XD and please don't flame...I get depressed easily by negative comments hehe...coughand my councilor is a BITCHcough

okay admit it. you hated it right? don't tell me it was retarded I already know :(...it was too rushed even though i had all the time in the world and i feel MEGA guilty...gaaaaahhh...cough

hopefully next chapter will be good people...sorry for the lack of GaaNaru but i seriously have a major problem with rushing into relationships. This was kind of necessary though with the whole bonnding thing. They're sort of friends now XD

But any ways, next chapter will be their first kiss (just to go and spoil it all for ya hehe) and some MAJOR revelations. Plus Gaara will get his first taste of the emotion we call 'jealousy' my friends, which may or may not be the chapter name depending on how relevant it is and YES it will be up soon...I'm on 3000 words in it, and half way though so it should be up any day...by the way the more reviews I happen to get the quicker I type, it's a strange phenomenon.

And thankyou so much for all the reviews I've had...you guys make me feel so special :)

I will start replying to the ones from now on as i have now sorted my msn account out (yeeeee)

peace, love and all that jazzXD


	6. Awkwaaard

Chapter six being written straight after chapter five because the author has inspiration and feels bad about keeping you so long :( but please review to both chapters (coz I'm a bitch like that hehe) XD

Disclaim: I do not own Naruto. I deal.

I also own no brands, bands ect. XD

Warning: boy's kissing ;)

Chapter 6:

Naruto cursed himself yet again for his inability to correctly change the alarm on his phone, the speedycake remix of carramelldansen blasting from his phone. He reached over with a grunt and slammed it off, cursing it for being so cheery. He swore he'd changed it to 'slit wrist theory' and using his left hand to rub his eyes, flicked though his songs only to find the one song he needed he'd accidentally deleted. Damn. Why oh why was he so technologically challenged? Shaking his head, he opened his eyes fully and conveyed his room, same as it always was. Boring and plain.

Stretching, he shoved the overly bright colours off and stepped out of bed, stifling a yawn. What should he wear today? Something bright? Something obnoxious? Well it wasn't like he had much of a choice seen as that was all his wardrobe consisted of. Oh well. He shrugged off his pyjamas and pulled on some low riding jeans, random rips in each side and some stupid spiral on the pocket. Why was it a spiral? Why wasn't it a gun, for example? Well beggars can't be choosers. Shoving his clashing yellow T-shirt over his head he walked over to the small shower-room, dunking his head into the sink and looking in the mirror as the water ran over his smooth face.

Drying it, he walked out and grabbed his bag, shocing his precious i-pod into it and hefting it onto his shoulder. De-ja-vu much? Did it seem like his life was just one big random circle full of lists and rucksacks? Because that was how it seemed for Naruto. Oh and the constant harassing from him house 'mates'.

Speaking of lists...he still didn't know who read his diary. List. Thing. It was anxiety at the back of his mind, slowly growing, only to be shoved back down. No. If anyone had read it they certainly weren't acting any differently. Right? He'd just have to check when he went downstairs, see if any one acted differently. Yup. Add that to the mental list...voila!

He fixed a small smile in place and walked out and down the stairs, ignoring the creaks from the old wood. They really should replace them but knowing the school's pathetic budget, the taxes had probably been used to fund useless things like wall hangings in the teacher's staff room.

Wow what a surprise. Everybody is already up and in the kitchen. Well, not everybody but quite a few. Neji and even Shikamaru were in the kitchen giving him that funny look again which they gave every time he went near them actually. It was like they were trying to look at him secretly when they thought he wasn't looking, but they failed at it, miserably. This was the perfect time to judge their behaviour.

"Morning," wait, did Neji just tell him 'good-morning' or something along those lines? Naruto was tempted to leap under the tabel and hide from the apocalypse, but instead gave a fake cheery. That was definitely odd...wait...there was no way that Neji could have read his notebook was there? He felt his paranoia grow at the small but very 'there' smirk on the boy's thin face. He ignored it though and answered how Naruto should have answered.

"Morning," equip with one small wave and slight creasing of the eyes. Neji seemed to believe it was real and started doing that annoying, let's-not-look-Naruto-in-the-eyes thing. Yup. It sure was annoying that let's-not-look-Naruto-in-the-eyes thing. It made it hard to judge what he was really thinking...

Ignoring that, Naruto made his way over to the kettle and leaned past Neji to fill it full of water. The boy had conveniently placed his overly tall and long haired body directly in front of the water source a.k.a the tap.

Whe Naruto had sufficiant coffee amount, he put the kettle back onto the metal rod and turned it on, all the while trying to ignore the fact that both Neji and Shikamaru were staring at him. Was there something wrong with his clothes? Was it suddenly 'stare-at-Naruto day' or something?

It was as he added numerous amounts of sweeteners to the mug that he turned around swiftly, just in time to see two heads snap in different directions, Shikamaru's back to the paper on his knee (which was on the same page as it was five minutes ago) and Neji's to the clock. Naruto's eyebrow's furrowed.

"Is there something on my face?" Naruto asked suspicoiusly. Neji pointedly ignored him and Shikamaru looked up slightly.

"Why?" he asked, avoiding Naruto's eyes (which was REALLY starting to piss him off now). Naruto decided to leave it at that, not really understanding the workings of the two boy's minds. They were probably just messing with him. Yeah. That was it. If they'd read his notebook...now there were those negative thoughts again! Why did his mind have to keep reminding him that someone in the rom could potentially know the workings of Naruto's (in his opinion amazing) mind.

"Nothing," he said. Turning back to his beautiful coffee. He poured in the steaming water and stirred, walking over to the fridge and bending down to reach the milk. Naruto could _feel _two pairs of eyes watching him, knew he wan't going crazy, but before he could say anything, someone or rather something happened to enter the kitchen.

Sasuke with his traditional hairstyle (which would no doubt be very good for setting on fire due to the numerous amounts of Fantasia IC Hair Polisher Olive Moisturizing Spray which Naruto saw on the desk in his bedroom when he happened to walk past one day...oh how he laughed)

The Uchiha with his good old thou-art-more-emo-then-thee look and his bitch at his side coughKibacough waltzed into the kitchen (one MAJOR bruise on his pretty boy face) looking like a gothic extra from a gangster film...although the word 'goth' and 'ganster' don't often go together in the same sentence unless it's 'a young boy described as a goth was shot by a 'ganster' yesterday evening...'

Naruto saw Neji and Shikamaru turn to face the boy, but other then this did not acknowledge him (which made Naruto feel oh-so-very-special at Neji's 'morning' ching sparkle sparkle).

"What you looking at fag?" Sasuke asked, sneering, tilting his head so the bruise wasn't as visible, but Naruto saw it oh boy did he see it.

"Oh nothing, just the huge bruise on your face," Naruto said bluntly, smiling slightly, relishing in Sasuke's deepening scowl and the fact he seemed to be arguing in his head. Naruto looked at him more closely for any tell-tale signs of Superior knowledge.

"Shut the fuck up," Sasuke sneered "unless you want me to scar your face up worse then it is,"

The atmosphere in the room turned icy cold. That was beyond harsh. Safe to say if he had read the notebook, he wasn't affected by it...unless it made him hate Naruto even more? Either way Naruto felt like touching his scars, tracing his fingers over them like he did each night in the mirror. Just thinking about them caused them to itch. He barely noticed Shikamaru looking uncomfortable and Neji full out glaring at Sasuke in a very un-Nejilike way.

"You can't" Naruto said, smiling fakely looking straight at Sasuke.

"Can't what?" Kiba asked from behind Sasuke. Naruto continued looking straight at the Uchiha.

"Can't scar me worse then this," he said, still smiling. He might as well be truthful for once. There was no way any physical scar could beat the mental ones recieved the night he was given those scars. No way in hell. There was an awkward silence, broken by the shuffling of feet and the appearance of Lee.

"What did I miss?" he asked,his bug-like eyes wide and his bowl-shaped hair boucing (coincidently the same colour as black boot polish...or was it a coincidence...could that be the reason for the unnatural shine??)

"Nothing," Kiba said, walking over to the fruit bowl and grabbing an apple. Lee looked confused.

"Don't tell me I missed the flames of an argument?" coughfreakcough him and his stupid 'youthful' this and 'flaming' that. Him and his homophobic policies, him and his anti-gay rights and his whole 'homosexual activities aren't youthful' and his shit to be honest. His complete and utter shit.

At least he had broken the silence. That was until Gaara walked in. In tight jeans. TIGHT tight jeans. They weren't even jeans. They were practically spray on. Naruto had to keep his tongue in his mouth as the red head calmly walked over to the kettle and poured himself a coffee, black, no sugar. He placed that information about his...friend (he fought down a giggle) for future reference at the back of his mind...along with everything else.

"Fag," Sasuke whispered as he walked past Naruto to sit at the small kitchen table. Ah, good old Sasuke and his favourite word.

"What did you say? I couldn't quiet detect the bullshit," Naruto said sweetly. Sasuke turned round glaring at him, his eyes narrowed and his teeth grit.

"Shuttup fag. Seriously. No one wants to hear what you have to say because, just like you it's worthless," he said putting emphasis on the 'worthless' practically spitting it.

"Are you talking about yourself?" a steely voice came from the bench in the form of Gaara. "because I speak for the majority of us when I say that no one is actually bothering to listen to you,"

Naruto could have hugged him. Seriously, Right then and there. Just GLOMP. But that would have probably pissed off alot of people in that room, the main one being Gaara himself.

And after he had hugged him he would think WHY THE HELL...Gaara just did that. Just...defended him. It felt weird. It was surprisingly nice. To actually have someone stick up for you. It made him want to sit there grinning to himself whilst angels showered him with sherbet (but that was probably just Naruto).

Sasuke stood up and stalked over to the red-head who didn't even pause in drinking his coffee.Naruto watched as his lips hit the side of the cup, his teeth lightly clicing against the porcelain. Safe to say Naruto was trying not to lick his lips. There was a silence as he downed it, and then his eyes sharpened and Naruto saw a glint in them which made him shiver slightly. God help Sasuke who had the full force of the glare...on second thoughts God, please don't. In fact go ahead and smite him.

"Why you standing up for the fag? Are you a fag as well?" Sasuke said laughing. Kiba laughed as well, and Lee looked disgusted. The laughter stopped as Sasuke was shoved against the fridge with a thud. Gaara held him up by the neck and leaned in whispering something that only Sasuke could hear. It was obviously pretty scary as the normally stoic boy's eyes flew open and when he was released (panting and desperately drawing in breath) he merely stalked out ignoring Kiba's protest's.

"You have a choice," Lee said solemly to Naruto before following after his friends. What was that supposed to mean? He had a choice about being gay? First, they didn't know for sure he was gay and he'd denied it since he could remember (even though he'd been gay since he couldn remeber as well but hey, touche)

and second, that sounded too much like the church for his liking. Their whole 'you have a choice as to whether or not you are gay' shit really got to him, especially in Religious Education when they'd had to study an entire topic on 'gay's within the church'...bad times.

He turned his attention, instead, to Gaara who was still looking rather calm ignoring the strange looks from the other boys. Shikamaru folded his paper up and walked out, glaring slightly at Gaara for unknown reasons, and Neji seemed to follow suit, but hey, who knew with Neji? He was a strange strange little boy.

"Thanks," Naruto said softly to Gaara who's head snapped to look down at him. The red-head shrugged.

"So what are you doing today?" he asked. There was that shrug again.

"So I'm taking that as a nothing?" he asked. Ah. A difference in the shrug. It was more of a one shouldered shrug which no doubt only Gaara could pull off whilst still looking rather hot.

"So you will come into the square with me today?" he asked, pouting slightly. Did he ask that. Did he seriously just ask that? He kept his face composed, but his heart started to beat with the anticipation of rejection. But...hey...Now Gaara was doing that annoying let's-not-look-Naruto-in-the-eyes-thing. It must be catching.

"Why?" came the gruff reply.

"Because," Naruto said simply. Gaara raised his eyebrow...thing...(why did he have no eyebrows? Naruto added it to his mental list 'ask why Gaara has no eyebrows'...there)

"Because what?" Gaara asked, crossing his arms and almost slouching on the bench. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Because there's no school today and I would like to buy a laptop," Naruto said grinning. Pleasesayyespleasesayyes.

"A laptop?" Gaara asked sounding suspicious (well as suspicious as you could sound whilst still being monotone).

"Yes. For today my friend is 'Naruto-appreciation-day' and as it is the first ever 'Naruto-appreciation-day' I would like to start with hight expectations" Naruto said nodding proffesionaly making it up on the spot, inside his heart beating even faster at the fact he had called Gaara his friend out loud, no matter no mockingly the situation.

"So you're going to buy a laptop?" Gaara repeated. Naruto nodded, happily, silently wishing the boy would end the torture and just say no...or maybe yes?

"So come on, we're going to the square!" he said making himself sound hyper, hoping to convince the other boy.

Naruto felt his palms grow sweaty. He had actually asked his friend to come with him. It had just slipped out. He looked up at the other boy, taking in the stoic expression, but the swirling emotions that burned in his eyes. Confusion. Anger. And was that...fear?

After what seemed like hours, but was likely only 30 seconds Gaara seemed to deflate internally and nodded. Naruto felt relief flood him and instead, adrenaline flowed through him. He was going to the square. With Gaara. Gaara! His friend!

"Fine," he heard Gaara mutter and could sense the boy trailing behind him. He walked out the door, a small but very genuine smile on his face.

GAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARA

Gaara honestly had no idea how he'd been convinced into this. He'd went down those stairs with the full intention of fully ignoring the blonde boy. But something about the way he'd looked, so sad, so something had just made him snap at that bastard. He'd actually wanted to defend him, for the first time in his life. He actually wanted to help. It was such a foreign feeling he'd just shoved it in with his conscience and hoped for the best but now...

Now he was sitting on a bus next the the boy he'd promised himself he would ignore. Now he was sitting next to this boy who was practically buzzing at the fact that he was going into town with him. It was surreal. He'd fully intended to spend the day how he would normally have spent it. Watching mindless violence followed by a bit more mindless violence followed by a hellova lot of coffee. But no, he was sitting on a bus watching as the old lady in front of him breathed into a bag and the small child across from him played with a piece of chewing gum stuck to the chair. God knows what the people were like behind him.

"We need to go to the bank so I can get the cash out first," Naruto said nodding. Gaara just nodded as well, the whole experience being stilghtly over whelming. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been on a bus.

He felt a pressure on his arm and wheeled round ready to hit who-ever had touched him, only to come face to face with a wide eyed Naruto, looking slightly shocked.

"Er...it's our stop," the blonde said sounding unsure. Gaara nodded, standing up and walking off the bus without so much as a thanks (he heard Naruto give his cheery 'cheers').

Immediately his hands were shoved deep into his pockets and his head was down.

"Hey wait up," he heard Naruto say as the boy jogged to keep up with him. He turned slightly to see the other boy's flushed face and immediately turned back. Don't look at the face. Don't look at the face. Don't look at the lips. Don't look at the...what?

He treid to block out all innapropraite thoughts, deciding to half listen to what the idiot actually had to say.

"...and so I decide to get a laptop you know, real Internet access..."

Okay, bad idea, he thought deciding to tune out the uselessness which was pouring form the blonde's mouth.

He only stopped to listen when he heard Naruto's slightly pissed off.

"...no not him again,"

Who? Who again? Gaara looked where Naruto was staring only to see some freaky looking boy with sliver hair and...was that a sword on his back? The boy gave a creepy smile at Naruto and waved.

"Hey Na-ru-to," he said, pronouncing Naruto's name like a retard (in Gaara's humble opinion). Gaara felt him self scowl and automatically step in front of Naruto. His body seemed to move on his own. The boy glared at him.

"Who're you?" he said, before taking a swig of water and wiping his mouth with a filthy sleeve.

"This is Gaara, and we really ought to be going," Naruto said, lightly touching Gaara's arm. Gaara really had no idea why that simple movement made him want to blush, but ignored it, and began to walk towards the square ignoring Naruto's short conversation about some random sword.

"Hey," he heard, followed by frantic jogging.

"Geez, what is with you and stalking off. Still pretending you're a vampire?" Naruto asked him. Gaara decided to ignore that for the well being of his mental health...and Naruto's physical health.

He heard a sigh, but ignored it. Instead he concentrated on getting trough the emo-clad teenage army that seemed to live there. He felt Naruto's hand on his wrist and he was pulled to the side. Looking up at the shop they were in front of he saw it to be a bank. Naruto released his wrist and Gaara felt the cold hit it. He crossed his arms.

"Okay...I just need to get the cash so so you want to wait in here?" Naruto said, openening the door and half stepping though. Gaara unfolded his arms.

"Whatever," he said. He watched from the surprisingly comfy red chair as Naruto filled out the necessary forms and was given a pouch full of money. He saw Naruto slip it into his bag and stood up.

"Got it," Naruto said happily. Gaara had the urge to clap sarcastically, but instead stuck with a "Good for you".

"Shuttup. Just because I have money," Naruto said smiling.

"You have no brains though," Gaara said, his mouth opening before he could shut it.

"I don't need brains when I have this money," Naruto said winking.

"How do you have all this money?" Gaara asked. He was genuinely curious.

"It's my lifes savings," Naruto said grinning. If it was his life's savings, how come he was using it now? Oh wait, he wanted to kill himself. Yeah. Forgot that small detail there. For some reason Gaara seemed slightly pissed off about that fact. He didn't know why, it was up to the other boy whether or not he wanted to die. But still...that twinge was still there.

They walked into the electronics store, the overwhelming scent of plastic and machinery filling their nostrils. Gaara looked at Naruto noticing the boy looking slightly lost in the 'Computer-world' store, like he hadn't expected it to be so big. He probably hadn't. Gaara took a small amount of pity.

"You need to ask someone," he said. Naruto's eyes shot to his as if to say 'weally?'. Gaara contained a sigh and walked over to the custoomer service desk.

"He want's a laptop," he said bluntly to the woman behind the counter, Haku or something on the name tag. Gaara looked and say she had long sleek hair and dark pretty eyes, an average but nice smile and she also looked slightly taken aback.

"What he meant to ask is whether there's any staff that would be willing to help me find a suitable laptop," Gaara wheeled round to see Naruto. Yes Naruto. Talking like he had more then half a brain. So miracles can happen.

"Why yes, I'm sure Zabuza would be willing to help you find one suitable," the lady said smiling.

"Thankyou sir," Naruto said. Sir? Was Naruto blind?

"No problem," the young...man? replied. Wow. That's something you don't see everyday. The man (god that felt weird saying that) called for this Zabuza over the tanoid. And sure enough, the man appeared. Woah.

The guy must have been seven feet tall and had those scary eyes, you know the ones that if you saw whilst walking to the park, you'd cross to the other side of the street?. He wore a mask across his face hiding most of his features, but you could plainly see, clear as day that under neath the uniform lay a body that could break you in half with one hand. Gaara was slightly impressed. Just a bit mind you. He could also see that this guy was seriously fugly leaving, to Gaara, no other reason to why he'd wear a mask. Yeah, he _says _it's for his health, but we all know the reason...

"Yeah, what Haku?" the guy asked, his voice slightly muffled under the material. Haku gestured to Gaara and Naruto with a dainty hand...he could have been a hand model in a former life. No joke. They were (Gaara nearly cringed) manicured...

"Could you help this gentleman find a suitable laptop?" Hake asked sweetly, ignorant to Gaara's inner thoughts (thankgod).

"Huh? Yeah, whatever," the guy said walking away from them.

"Er...he's not had a very good day...his antiques store isn't doing so good and..." Haku began looking nervous.

"Haku can ya stop telling customers my entire life story," came Zabuza's growl. Haku squeaked and hurried himself with the cash-machine. Naruto looked over at Gaara, who shrugged and made his way over to the freakishly tall man by the laptop display.

"What ya lookin' for in a laptop?" the guy asked Naruto who gulped and began to describe what he wanted. Basically a tonne of memory from what Gaara could gather.

"You lookin' for a mac?" Zabuza asked. Naruto shook his head.

"No, way too complicated," he said. The guy snorted. He apparently didn't think so.

"Well if you want 'uncomplicated'," Zabuza said, sarcastically (causing Gaara to glare openly at him) "then this is best for you," he said

"HP Pavilion HDX900. Tonne a memory and easy so anyone can use it," he said, putting stress on the 'anyone'. Gaara's glare deepened.

"How much?" Naruto asked.

"1,350" Zabuza said "can ya afford that?" he asked smirking. Naruto nodded, oblivious.

"Yup! Can I take it now?" he asked. Zabuza grunted seemingly put out by the fact he could afford it and Gaara found himself disliking the man even more.

So that was how Naruto got his laptop. What an amazingly unthrillling story. Gaara sighed, watching as Naruto stumbled alongside him with the box, looking cheerful.

"So do you want to go in any shops before we leave?" Naruto asked. Gaara shrugged.

"Come on there must be one?" god he was persistent.

"Fine. Let's go to Void then," he said, smirking.

"Void?" Naruto asked, a question mark practically floating above his head. Gaara nodded.

"Where is it?" Naruto asked. Gaara indicated left with his head and Naruto's mouth opened in a silent 'oh'. It was kind of hard to miss.

Tight leather clothing hung in the window and brightly coloured skinny jeans were stretched over the heavily made up manequins in the shop window. 'Voi' was in gothic lettering above the door where various band posters had been stuck and Gaara swung the door open with a creak. Gothic music filled his eardrums as he walked in, ignoring the shop assistance who sat legs wide her short skirt revealing all and her dreads hanging past her hollowed cheekbones. She ignored him as he walked over to the jeans.

Gaara watched as Naruto struggled in with his laptop box and stopped, panting next to him.

"You didn't think this though did you?" he couldn't help but ask, smirking.

"Nope," he said cheerfully "it was entirely spontaneous,"

Huh. Figures.

"So are you going to buy anything? Try anything on?" he asked. Gaara shrugged.

"Aww come on. I'll try something on as well," he said. And that was supposed to convince him how? He watched as Naruto picked up some picth black skinnies, bleeding roses dripping from the pockets.

"See. I'll try this on and you try..er...that on and we'll both see how we look," Naruto said throwing a random piece of material at him. Gaara inspected it. Enter Shikari? It was bright yellow.

"You expect me to where this?" Gaara asked at the offending piece of clothing. Naruto nodded.

"Yup," he said, making his way over to the dressing rooms. Gaara watched as he made his way over to the silk curtains, pulling them back and settling his laptop box on the floor at the end where it couldn't be stolen. Then he shut the curtain with a wink.

Gaara trudged over to the other compartment and went in, shutting the curtain slowly. He looked at the T-shirt before sighing and pulling off his own decent rather sexy one. He examined his pale skin in the mirror, looking over his toned stomach before slipping the offending item of clothing over his bright hair. There. He was done. Stepping out the changing room he looked around only to be grabbed and pulled into the other one with a manly (manly I tell you) shriek.

"What are you doing?" he asked, composing himself, turning around to see...to see...shit...

Naruto was stood, a light blush across his face and his hands twisting together, his eyes to the floor and his jeans...god his jeans...they were amazingly tight, pulling in at the right place giving his slim legs slight curves and making them look...just oh so sexy.

Gaara didn't know what he was doing, only that he was suddenly very close and suddenly...suddenly his lips were pressed to Naruto's soft ones. He didn't know who leaned in first and to be honest he didn't really care, only that this felt so good.

It was small and chaste, obviously both the boy's first kiss. They had met clumsily, almost accidently, their lips pressed against each others. Then they pulled back slightly before touching once more.

It was his first kiss. With a boy. He had never expected that to happen, neither did he think it would happen in the changing room of void. But it did. And Gaara liked it. It was a different experience to anything he'd ever done, five times the amount of pleasure he'd obtained from watching horror films or drinking coffee.

For some reason his body seemed to be reacting, places he'd never bothered with beginning to heat up and glow. He could feel his cheeks on fire and his neck too but was still too caught up in his thoughts.

He'd seen kissing on T.V. Many times (to his annoyance) and for the first time understood why films included so much of it. He'd seen on T.V a moment when the man had done something to the woman, which seemed appropriate now, and he placed his hands awkwardly on either side of the blonde boy's head. There. Now what else happened?

Gaara had seen people moving their mouths during kissing, but never really thought about it. It was worth a try.

He dipped his tongue out slightly, ignoring the shiver that came from the other boys as he licked his lips, almost asking for entry. And then it happened.

It was...weird. Unlike the first kiss which was soft, it was more...wet? There tongues seemed to clash clumsily, before they found a pattern and Gaara began to move his tongue in time to Naruto's, his taste buds on fire from the other boys unique oriental taste. He felt Naruto's tongue paint the cavern of his mouth, every crevis being filled with pleasure.

It was so tender as they touched, and Gaara had to subside a moan as he felt their teeth lightly clash, and Naruto lightly nibbled on his lower lip. It felt so good!

Gaara decided to follow his lead and began to chew slightly on the other boy's lip softly, licking around it. It seemed to work for the other boy gave a small moan which for some reason beyonds Gaara's knowledge made Gaara want to kiss him even more. That sound, he wanted to hear it again.

He saw beyond it.

Films, books, loneliness, his image. It was all superficial. None of it mattered. All that mattered in that one moment was the fact that they were connected to each other, their lips lightly bruising.

And as they pulled away, panting heavily, hair mussed and faces red, Gaara stopped.

All of his previous opinions, views and actions were crushed leaving him standing confused and almost scared. All his previous thoughts seemed so childish.

In the films the man and woman had started dating after this and after killing the zombies had lived happily ever after. See it was that 'happily ever after' that got Gaara's head so screwed. What was he supposed to do now?

NARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTOANRUTONARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTO

He felt Gaara pulled away and moved slightly, sucking in much needed air. That-was-hot. He didn't know the red-head was such a good kisser, the way his tongue had glided through his mouth like burning ice. He felt his already blazing cheeks heat up at the thought (another uncomfortable organ also growing hot at the lingering touch).

No surprise the boy tasted of coffee. Naruto, still in a daze thought feebly to himself about how he should definitely drink coffee more often. Much more often. In fact maybe as soon as he got home. Yeah.

He resisted the urge to press his fingertips to his lips as that would be way too much. His thoughts were still jumbled up. His normally perfectly logical list-making mind was now dancing with elves. Yeah. It was just that good of a kiss. But seriously it was. He'd be thinking of that for a long time.

As his panting lessened Naruto noticed the awkward silence. Not good. Gaara looked confused and slightly anguished.

"Er...Gaara...I'm going to change now?" he said, sounding like he was asking for permission as he gestured to his crumpled up jeans on the floor. The boy seemed to realise where they were and nodded, leaving the compartment without so much as a word.

His thoughts seemed to arrive back in his brain, most of the asking WHAT THE HELL DO YOU DO NOW??

Naruto found himself clutching his head and sliding down the mirror groaning. What _did _he do now? Were they dating? Were they still friends? For gods-sake he'd only met the guy formally yesterday?

If they did in fact date would that change anything to do with his death? How would it? So confused.

He squeezed himself out of the painfully tight jeans and pulled on his slightly less tight pair, zipping the up over his slim hips. Taking a deep breath he walked outside only to see Gaara standing outside, dressed again and holding the yellow T-shirt (now folded) over his arm (like a waitor). Naruto forced a smile on his face.

"Can you watch the laptop while I put these back?" Naruto said. Gaara nodded. Great, he wasn't talking now. Just great. Naruto took the shirt off him and walked over to where they were piled up, neatly settling it on top and placing the jeans he worse back on the discarded hanger. There.

There could only be one word to describe the journey back on the bus, not to mention the walk _to_ the bus. You guessed it. Awkward.

The whole journey was completely silent, Naruto having no clue what to say to lessen the heavy tension that was building. Each boy had their own crushing thoughts, weighing them down and Naruto couldn't stand it. As they walked back to the house and Naruto typed in the number it was silent. As the door creaked open and they both hurried upstairs to their respective bedrooms there was no 'bye' or wave from Gaara, just a look and a shrug.

What had Naruto done? He shook his head. He'd figure that one out later. He was currently sitting in his favourite position, trying to figure out what he had done...that and how to connect his laptop to the internet available in the house. What the hell was this modem thing?

"Let's see," he said randomly clicking. It was after five minutes of this and admiring how shiny the thing was that he decided to take action. By action h meant 'go ask Shikamaru what the hell to do'.

Sure he didn't like the guy (and was suspicious as to whether or not he may or may not have read his notebook) but the guy was good with computers and all things electrical (or as Naruto would say...all things shiny). So he decided he'd have to swallow his pride and ask.

He glanced at his watch.

Meh.

It could wait.

tbc.

woot!! yey...come on admit it...it was up pretty damn quick XD See I CAN type when I want to...or when I can actually get onto a laptop shakes fist

I mean I don't think this chapter was brilliant but hey...I tried ja?

Review?

Yay, or nay?

Next chapter:

Gaara enters the school! will he like the teahcers? hell will they like him! Who will he hate? Who will he love? And will Naruto ever get his internet? Plus more luuurve XD

A.N: hope It was alright...yeah the making out was awkward but it was Gaara's first kiss (and possibly Naruto's hehe) so it's not going to be perfect...fear not, more steamy snogging next chapter hehe.

OH! and totally irrelevant but I met Enter Shikari!! If ya hate em...grrr...if ya love em...yeeey!

And if you haven't heard of them chekem out...oh and another completey irrelevant point but go and listen to Owl City...he's so amazing...Rainbow Veins is the best song I've heard all week XD (rec me some songs people, I need more music )


	7. Shiny, School and Master Plans

I am so sorry that this hasn't been updated. I would bore you with details why, but I can tell you don't really want to know...basically I'm having allot of problems at the moment which I'd prefer not to take medication for...but anyways I hope you had a good chrismas and new year...consider this a late present...and thankyou freexflyer for recommending Blue October to me...they're so good...and thankyou to Batty Angel for recomending Pollen and Salt...it's such a good song, so sad but so wow ^^ Thankyou for all the reviews so far and I hope your ready...this is quite a long chapter (by my standards)

sorry again and onto.....

chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or anything at all really...I do own my amazing cat Ninja-Mocca-Glowstick-Havok however (who is pawing at my feet right now)

NARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTO

Naruto seriously considered just giving up. Just laying down and giving up...

He was never going to change his alarm from Swedish rave. It just wasn't going to happen. No matter how many buttons he shoved and annoyed noises he emitted, Caramelldansen was forever going to be the bane of his life, the sound he heard whilst waking every morning. The cheery rave song grated on his very soul (...maybe just a slight over exageration there, but hey it was early morning and he was _tired_). Grabbing his phone, he turned off the alarm and scrolled though his songs, pausing over Caramelldansen...grinning slightly sadistically he did it. He deleted the song. It gave him more pleasure then deleting a song from his phone should, but still the deed was done. He ticked it off his mental list.

He peered over his bedcovers, stifling a small exited squeak at the sight of his laptop (because that would be unmanly and if there was one thing that Naruto was not it was unmanly...so he kept telling himself). His precious shiny laptop which was sitting on his desk looking so new and...shiny...did he mention shiny? He could practically see his scars in it it if he looked hard enough (not that he would go out of his way to look at his scars. If anything he'd go out of his way to avoid looking at them, but considering he looked in mirrors allot it was a pretty hard task to achieve).

A laptop of such shinyness definately needed a name. He nodded mentally. It had to be a name which not only described the amazingly high tech piece of machinery before him, but also added style, class, a touch of royalty. A name such as...Shiny. Yes, Shiny. Oh the originality.

All he had to do now was get that amazing invention known as 'the internet' onto Shiny. He sighed thinking about it. It required actually going out and finding the one known as Shikamaru and begging him to tell him how to put the internet. Well, maybe not beg as such, but ask him in a pretty pathetic way. Yup. Naruto was definately looking forward to that (sarcasm anyone?).

Sighing he shook his head and managed to get out of his bed and leaving the warm cocoon that were his bed covers, he slouched over to his shower room. He looked in the mirror, eyeing his scars automatically, his finger lightly tracing the thin line before running his hand through his hair. God he needed a shower. Looking at his wrist he saw the time: 6.06. Nah. What was the point. It 's not like he cared enough for anyone to see him...

Well maybe one person...maybe one person with red hair. I'll give you a clue. His name's Gaara. Gaara...even thinking about his name caused an unhealthy blush to appear across his face. He didn't even want to try actually saying his name, for considering he was blushing from just thinking about it. But then again when he thought about the name he couldn't help but remember the kiss and...

Oh god the kiss. The blush intensified and Naruto was glad for the lack of people in his shower room. Well he didn't think there was anyone in his shower room...he hadn't checked behind the curtain yet! Oh, okay, no one there. There. Now he was certain he was alone and he was glad for it.

Shaking his head at the thoughts of the other boy he ran his hand under the tap, splashing his hot face with cold water. Looking once more at his reflection, he turned the tap off and stepped back into his room. He needed to distract himself so decided to go through his mental checklist of the day.

1. He needed to find Shikamaru and ask him to sort out his internet...joy.

2. Talk to Gaara about..er...stuff.

2. Go to school and try to survive.

There. Three things that when listed as so seemed so easy to achieve. Yet really were the complete opposite. Gaara. That was a hard one. Were they (godforbid) dating? The word seemed so foreign on Naruto's tongue (even though technically he thought it so his tongue wasn't really used...he'd used it yesterday though...). They'd kissed. That was what couples do right? And Gaara lent him films and books. That was couplish? Naruto pushed his confusing thoughts back. He had number one on his list to achieve first. Then he'd find Gaara.

Picking up his laptop and shouldering his back he kicked his door causing it to swing back on it's hinge. Soon enough he found himself standing outside Shikamaru' room, knocking on it lightly with his knuckles as he heald his laptop under his arm. The door opened a crack and the tired face of Shikamaru appeared looking none too happy.

"What?" Naruto heard him say, rubbing his eyes slightly. No doubt the boy had been asleep. Naruto resisted the urge to roll his eyes and put on a bright overly happy smiling giving the world a perfect view of his pearly whites.

"Hey Shikamaru," he said cheerfully. He saw how the other boy seemed to wake up at his voice and his eyes widen in slight shock (this was very slight shock...we're talking about someone who looked like they were about to fall asleep during most points of the day, a look of total shock wouldn't really be possible).

"Naruto?" he asked, sounding uncertain. Naruto allowed his jaw-splitting smile to widen even more.

"In the flesh," he said with a wink. That was it. Keep the overly happy 'my tears of joy are so happy they're made of rainbow' front up and everything would be fine.

"Er...why were you knocking on my door?" Shikamaru said playing the amazing let's-not-look-Naruto-in-the-eyes game. Yeah, he'd really wondered when that would start. So far Shikamaru was winning, gaining 50 points for managing to appear interested by his own foot. Oh what a fun game that let's-not-look-Naruto-in-the-eyes was.

"I was wondering if you knew anything about laptops," Naruto said, gesturing to his own laptop. Funny that, Shikamaru didn't see, to be as amazed by it's shinyness, and just seemed to look at it for a seconds before nodding.

"Yeah, I know about laptops. What do you want me to help with?" Shikamaru asked, slouching against his door frame placing his hands into his combat trouser pockets. Naruto was a bit confused (more then normal) as to why the boy was being so nice to him? Inwardly, he wondered if it was a ploy, a plot against him, whether it was a trick to get him to drop his defences. Outwardly he grinned, appearing grate full.

"Oh it's just that I really want to get the internet up on it, but it's all going on about modems and dial ups and stuff!" Naruto said, gesturing wildly with his free hand at 'stuff'. Shikamaru just nodded.

"Yeah, the house has a modem that part of the school's fee's pay for, so we should be able to connect to that here," he said sounding bored. Naruto nodded. That just went straight over his head (not exactly hard to do considering his height). It sounded impressive though.

"So can you do that now?" Naruto asked, leaning forward towards the laptop which had been pulled onto the other boy's lap. Funny that, Shikamaru seemed to lean as far away from him as possible. Inwardly Naruto slumped dejectedly. Outwardly, he stopped and asked the boy again.

"Yeah," Shikamaru said, and Naruto noticed how his eyes drifted over to the door, the wall and the ceiling. Seriously, lack of eye contact was really getting to him.

"I'm going to connect it now to the wireless modem," he said. Naruto nodded again, his eyes glazing over as the other boy did a load of clicking and whizzing about on the screen. He concentrated on the little computer in the bottom right and watched as the cross disappeared and a little box saying 'successfully connected' appeared.

"Does that mean there's internet?" he asked pointing to it.

"Er...yeah," Shikamaru said, practically throwing the laptop back at him. Naruto's eyes narrowed.

"I'll go then," he said, momentarily forgetting to put on the false happy-voice and standing up, clutching Shiny to his chest (not shutting the lid...he didn't want to break the connection thing).

He walked out ignoring the stare he could feel the other boy give him or the quiet call of his name and it was only when he felt a hand touch his shoulder that he turned around, his mask still not in place. He made sure to lock eyes with the boy, if only for a second.

"What?" he asked. The genius before him seemed to actually be at a loss for words! Or so Naruto thought until he started speaking.

"Look...if you...If you ever want to talk, then I want you to know that I'll listen," and with that the boy turned and walked back into his room.

Okay. Yeah. That was random. Not to mention slightly stupid. Sure, he was just about to spill his inner most secrets to the boy so he could tell the whole school and make his life worse then it already was. That was such a great idea! (Notice the sarcasm literally dripping from those sentences).

Or worse. A thought took hold of the blond which made a chill run down his spine. Like when you jump in your sleep and wake up feeling disorientated and confused. Could Shikamaru have read his notebook? Could that be the reason he was behaving so disgustingly nice? But then again, if he didn't why was he acting nice? Did he use his geniusness to figure out he was suicidal? He had no idea how that was work, but he wasn't closing any of his options.

Was he just too see through? Not see through as in invisible, god if only that were true. If you can't be seen, you officially can't be touched as no one knows your there. Well, unless they wander into you while your hanging about invisible...

Naruto stopped arguing with his own metaphors and stepped into his room, slamming his door shut and leaning against it. No. He just had to do two things here. He had to be more careful about everything. He had to password his laptop up to it's eyeballs. Wait, laptops don't have eyeballs...it's metaphorical eyeballs then. He also had to destroy his notebook. Burn it or something. Just make sure that no one could ever read it.

Calming himself down he sat cross legged on his bed, Shiny in front of him. Double clicking on the internet, he opened google. Now what would be incredibly useful to look at? For some reason Gaara flashed into his head. Yes, that would be useful, but he somehow doubted that Gaara would come up with anything on a google search.

Worth a try thought right? Feeling slightly stalkerish he typed it in. Oh look nothing came up.

And now he was bored...

GAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARA

Gaara didn't sleep. At all. It wasn't unusual. Many a night he'd just lie there thinking about how great it would be to be able to bite peoples neck's and drain them of their blood. However, what was not usual was the fact that he had stayed up thinking...well happy thoughts. Gaara didn't have these so called 'happy thoughts' very often, and they were usualy classed as 'not happy, just slightly deranged thoughts'. But no. He'd spent an entire night thinking about...him. Naruto. The blond idiot who had occupied his thoughts with him happy smile and overly large bug-like eyes.

He'd actually started off just reliving the kiss in his head. Just going over it again and again like a loop, only each time adding something. Like, adding the part where Gaara had been the one who'd definately initiated the kiss, or when he'd come in (with cape) and pinned Naruto (with dress) to the side of the stall. Yeah, only adding small insignificant details.

Then his head had decided to continue the scene, and imagine them walking to the bus stop hand in hand, Naruto leaning ever so softly into Gaara. Them sitting close on the bus. Them walking into the house and him defeating Sasuke in a duel for Naruto's heart.

See these were happy thoughts. They were genuine 'happily ever after' thoughts. And this is what scared him. He'd never had these before in his entire life. Ever. And what scared him most was not even the fact that his entire body seemed to be on fire at these thoughts, and the overwhelming urge to touch himself in areas barely thought of. No it. It was the fact that he liked it. He liked thinking them. He didn't want to run away from these thoughts (well...maybe only a little, but he's certain he'd run straight back and state very firmly that it was 'just a jog'). He actually wanted to act on them. Go straight up to Naruto and jam his tongue in his mouth.

Maybe, if he acted on these feelings, they'd go away. Maybe if, as soon as he saw Naruto this morning he kissed him hard and fast, the urge to kiss him hard and fast would fade as he acted on it. He didn't want to consider that maybe he was just inventing reasons to kiss Naruto, and that maybe his urges would multiply. No.

He pushed his fear (it was a small fear mind you...Gaara does not have fear over a certain size. Let's say guinea pig sized) back and shook his head slightly. He hadn't even bothered to change out of the clothes he'd worn the day before (mind you they were very nice clothes). It was a bit disgusting he thought as he felt his clothes stick to his skin, a think layer of sweat between the two.

Normally he'd have a shower. This was at home though. Here, he had no clue at what to do. He knew that there was school on today (joy) and that he'd have to suffer though multiple lessons with multiple people he was sure to hate. And that was just the teachers. Thoughts of his fellow 'classmates' caused him to shudder (inwardly mind you).

He walked over to his drawer and took out his towel. It was the 'nightmare before christmas' featuring Jack Skellington in the front next to Sally that Temari had bought him last year as part of his birthday present. He glared at it, suddenly being aware that the two figures were romantically inclined to one another. Basically, the whole thing was a romance. Just the thing he needed to be reminded of. Picking it up and turning it so that Jack was against his arm (ha, take that Jack), he grabbed his two in one Treseme bottle and some random shower gel and headed out his room to the shower.

Luckily, there was no on in and he hastilty (though quite smoothly if he could say so himself) slammed the door shut and locked it. It was only as he stepped into the shower and was applying his shampoo/conditioner that he realised that he had not brought a change of clothes in with him. Finishing his shower (and ignoring the urges he had) he stepped out and dried himself only now hearing the banging on the door.

"Can you hurry the fuck up I've gotta shave!" he heard pouring though the locked door. Gaara realised it was one of the boys whom he had met, the one that Naruto had called, 'Sasuke's bitch'. Kiba something or other. Funny that he should have to shave, Gaara thought, glancing at his reflection in the steamed mirror and his distinct lack of facial hair.

Wrapping the towel round his hips and securing it, he grabbed his stuff and unlocked the door stepping back. Immediately the other boy rushed in.

"Finally, what the..." Kiba seemed to realise who it was mid sentence and glared. Gaara glared back..no he hadn't stopped glaring since he'd gotten up to technically, he'd glared first.

"Fucking woman," Kiba said, dropping his gaze and shuffling past him. Gaara smirked, considering it a victory and ignoring the insult. He knew he spent ages in the shower. He also knew he didn't care.

Walking into his room he locked it behind him. He hadn't bothered locking it before. If stuff was stolen it wasn't exactly a big mystery who had taken it and it wasn't like he couldn't smash their face in (again) until they gave it back.

Dropping it all into a neatish pile, he pulled on some clean clothes. As it was the first day of his new school he stuck with a painfully studded belt, some low riding baggy black and tartan jeans and a long sleeved top. A bit of eyeliner didn't hurt (unless it was carefully aimed at someones eye) and as he took a look in his small cracked pocket mirror, he deemed himself worthy to go downstairs and have a coffee.

When he went down it seemed the majority were still in bed of getting ready upstairs as only Naruto was in the kitchen holding a cup of coffee. Gaara noticed how the blonde's eyes lit up as he noticed him.

"Oh hey Gaara," he heard him say, smiling. Naruto was obviously not bothered by the whole 'we made out in a dressing room' thing. Gaara took a seat on the opposite side of the table.

"Hi," he said. He attempted slightly to make it sound less monotone, but it still came out as a dull note. Naruto seemed to be happy he'd replied however.

"Shiny's working," he said, grinning. Gaara raised a non-existent eyebrow.

"Shiny?" he asked (it sounded like a statement however).

"My laptop," Naruto said happily.

"You named you laptop...Shiny," Gaara said, deadpan. Naruto nodded.

"Yup and you shall refer to her as that from now on," Naruto said, taking a sip of coffee.

"Her?" Gaara said, sounding slightly amused. His vocal chords were warming up now so the monotone was less mono.

"Well you can't call a boy Shiny. It just doesn't work," Naruto replied as if it were obvious.

"So you would call your daughter Shiny?" Gaara asked...never before could he have imagined himself saying those exact words.

"Well, no. But it's not like I'm ever going to have kids is it?" he said, chuckling. True, Gaara thought. You're gay. And suicidal but...Gaara for some reason didn't want to think about the blonde's mentality and decided to leave it at that. The whole, 'he wants to die thing' was really unsettling him, which was strange considering he'd not cared at all barely a few days ago.

"Anyway's who have you got for your first lesson?" Naruto asked. Gaara gave a barely detectable shrug.

"Haven't been given a time table," he said. Naruto mouthed 'oh' and nodded.

"Didn't they send you one?" he asked. Gaara just shook his head looking uncaring. Nonchalant. So what if they forgot to sent him a timetable. It was just a piece of paper.

"I'll show your where the office is," Naruto offered, sounding unsure. Gaara nodded slightly, ignoring the primal urge to tell him to leave him alone and get on with his own life. The fact that Gaara was staring at the blonde's lips helped. The way they moved as he spoke, and how his soft pink tongue would lick the corner of his mouth after each sip of coffee. Gaara felt his face heat up and decided enough was enough. His theory must be tested. If he had to kiss Naruto to prove it, then so be it it must be done!

Standing up out of the chair he walked round the table and stood before Naruto, for some reason just staring into his eyes for a second or two ignoring the other boy's soft 'Gaara?'. He leaned down, pressing his lips to the other boy's, his logical way of thinking 'this is just to banish the urge's' dissolving along with his resolve. He felt his mouth was melting, and they hadn't even done that thing with their tongues yet.

It was less awkward then the first, Gaara following the same procedure that he had the first time, hands behind Naruto's head, deepening the kiss by licking slightly at the other boy's lips. This time he found it easier, probably because he'd initiated it, and they both managed to find a rhythm much easier then they had the day before. The only difference was the fact that Naruto's hands seemed to be moving everywhere, like they couldn't keep still. They seemed to touch him everywhere. When Gaara pulled away, they where almost down the back of his jeans. Funny, Gaara didn't really mind. If anything he seemed a bit disappointed.

It was at that moment that Gaara realised that by acting on his urges they didn't seem to vanish. In fact he didn't even see them as urges anymore. He just saw them as Naruto. And he now saw Naruto as addicting. Very addicting indeed.

They both sat down, for some reason not avoiding eyecontact. Something about the way Naruto was looking at him made it impossible to look away. Like by looking away he'd betray him. So they sat there. Just staring. Until someone came in, in which case they both cast their eyes on them.

It was the boy with long hair. Naruto hadn't really mentioned him, so he presumed he hadn't done anything majorly bad to the other boy or he would have been mentioned in the small bitch-fest. The boy nodded at Naruto.

"Morning," he said. Gaara noticed how Naruto's smile suddenly became much more guarded and almost...fake.

"Morning Neji," he said. Oh so it was Neji. Well then Neji seemed to be completely ignoring him. In fact all he seemed to be doing was staring at Naruto when he wasn't looking and avoiding eye contact whenever he did. Safe to say it looked suspicious, and Gaara couldn't help narrow his eyes. He was so busy with his eye-narrowing he barely noticed Naruto talking to him.

"...and the bus leaves aroud then. Is that okay with you?" Naruto asked. Gaara turned to him and noticed this Neji turn to him as well, if only slightly as if he was being discreet. If really wasn't working.

"Yeah whatever, " Gaara said brushing it off. He allowed his thoughts to drift back to the last seven minutes (minusing when that Neji walked in). What was he going to do now? Date the blonde...that actually seemed like a good idea. As his mind mulled over this thought, it vaguely registered the fact that Naruto had grabbed him by the wrist and was pulling him out of the chair and into the hall.

"Look," he heard the smaller boy whisper. He waited for him to continue.

"What you saw that night on the bridge...I want to talk to you about that later okay. But what I want to know now is whether you meant what you did in the kitchen,"

"Why wouldn't I?" Gaara asked, sounding mildly offended.

"So you like me?" the other boy asked him. He didn't reply. There didn't seem to be a need for one. He heard Naruto sigh.

"Okay, we'll talk about this later after school...to early to think of complicated stuff," he said rubbing his temples. Gaara couldn't help but agree. He watched as Naruto's expression changed eerily quick, what was one second a look of confusion and weariness, was a look of sheer happiness almost annoyingly so, and a childlike stupidity. Gaara decided to take Naruto's word on that and talk later. Not because he trusted him or anything. Just because he didn't have anything better to do. Yeah. That was it...

NARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTONARUTO

Naruto walked into the office, almost pulling Gaara behind him. After what felt like a never ending 'discussion' Naruto had managed to convince Gaara that sitting at the back of the bus was dangerous to his mental health. Which it was considering who sat there. Sasuke sat in the middle at the back surrounded by Kiba, Lee, Neji and Shikamaru on the seats in front and verious other Naruto-haters. So why Gaara had had his mind set on the back of the bus Naruto had no idea. So they had sat near the front, with Naruto talking almost the entire way.

He'd only done this because he was nervous. He had decided to take the big leap and talk to Gaara about the night he'd ruined his suicide. The red-head obviously knew he was...is suicidal, so that wont be a shock to him. He just wants to warn him that he will be killing himself anytime-soon. Definitely. As soon as he re planned it all out. He decided that he needed to make sure Gaara was willing. First off willing to, well date him. And second, whether he'd mind the fact that he was planning on killing himself. Even if he did mind it wouldn't change the plan he was about to make. It would just mean that Naruto would distance himself from him. So there would be no emotional attatchment.

He was broken from his flashbacking-thoughts by a polite cough. He looked and saw Gaara, arms crossed, glaring at him and the receptionist smiling slightly at him. No guesses who had coughed. Naruto felt his arm fly behind his head in a traditional 'sheepish' expression.

"Oh sorry," he said. The elderly woman behind the counter chuckled slightly.

"Oh no problem my love," she said, pushing her glasses up on her nose "how may I help you?" Naruto ignored the creepiness of the woman and smiled brightly at her.

"Well it's my friend here you see," he said gesturing to the 'friend' who was still glaring.

"He's new and needs a timetable," he continued. "It was supposed to have been posted but it never showed up,"

The woman looked over at Gaara and his attire and her smile seemed to shrink, and Naruto could have given her points for trying to look happy as she forced it back on.

"Oh, new here I see. What's you name?" she asked. Naruto watched as Gaara seemed to turn as if on wheels towards her, gliding over the the desk.

"Gaara. Gaara Sabaku," he said. Naruto wondered if he knew how James Bond he just sounded. Had the red-head even seen James Bond? He made a mental note to ask him later.

They both watched as the old woman typed it in to her keyboard at arthritic speed before clicking print and slowly handing the piece of paper to Gaara.

"Thankyou," Naruto said for both of them as the taller boy walked off into the corridor.

"Hey wait up," he said, grabbing the paper.

"What are you doing?" Gaara asked him, glaring slightly. Naruto ignored him and continued to read through.

"Right, well you've got History first with Iruka. He's real nice, he'll help you pass any exam. Then you have art with me! I mean I'm in that lesson but the teacher's Deidara. Yeah, he's a bit...crazy? But he's amazing at sculpting. He'd got a bit perfectionist complex though, destroys alot of his work. But he's cool, let's you try out different media," Naruto said, walking along side the red-head as he lead him to his first lesson.

He found the piece of paper ripped from his grasp and pouted slightly.

"Hey, I was helping," he said, feigning hurt (even though it did hurt quite a bit to think he didn't want his help).

Gaara just shrugged and Naruto shook his head sighing dramatically.

"Fine then. I won't help you. See if I ever help you in the rest of the day, no the whole of my entire life," he said, gesturing wildly, ignoring the strange looks he was recieving from those still walking to lessons. Luckily for him they all seemed to be looking at Gaara.

"Where's the history classroom?" Gaara asked, smirking.

"Oh it's right up there to the left....shit...you did that on purpose didn't you?" Naruto said glaring up at the smirking boy who just seemed to look at him as if to say 'yeah. So?'.

"Fine then. Ignoring that I will never help you to find a history classroom again," Naruto declared.

"I wont need your help you just told me," he heard Gaara mutter. Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Ah, but the beauty of that my friend is that you in fact have two history classrooms," he said.

"Do I have two today?"

"Well....no...but on Thursday I will _not _be helping you find your other classroom. Then you shall regret ever...what did you do again?" Naruto said, scratching his head automatically.

Gaara just seemed to be looking at him as if to confirm that someone like that really exists before nodding, muttering a 'whatever' and wandering off up the stairs. Naruto pouted slightly when he ignored his frantic cries of 'byeeeeeeee!' and wondered if he was laying it on a bit thick. Yeah. He'd tone down the Narutoness at lunch, he thought, wandering of to science...

GAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARAGAARA

If Gaara could have chosen one person he did not wasnt sitting next to him in his History lesson it surely would have been this one. Ino. A whole hour of blond hair being flapped into his face was not a pleasant one. She completely ignored him (that, he did not mind), yet spent the entire lesson speaking to this girl on her left about this girl in front of her. He'd never been surrounded by so many girls (Temari and her friends didn't count. They weren't 'girls', they were just female. Completely different).

"Sakura!" he heard her whisper the second he sat down and he knew without a doubt that he was going to fail History. The seconds she opened her mouth. Or was it the second the girl with pink hair reciprocated with a 'What Ino! What is it?' in one of those overly exaggerated stage whispers which isn't really whispering, just a way of gaining attention. Either way, the only thing Gaara had heard that entire lesson from Iruka, the teacher was 'You can sit there next to Ino!'. After that his ear's were surrounded by talks of a girl called Hinata.

"Look at her! Ive heard she does the diry with Neji!"

"You're joking right? Neji's her cousin! And he hangs around with Sasuke,"

"Sasuke? OhmigodIsawhimearlier!"

"Ohmigodwhere?"

Gaara found it amusing that the more they talked about the pretty boy bastard, the higher pitched and more grating their voices went. He gave them a once over and noticed that they weren't exactly bad looking (not that he knew or was particularly interested). But he immediately disliked them as soon as they spoke. Well, more then he did before seeing them. He disliked everyone in this school. Just that he disliked Naruto a little less.

So that lesson was all in all rather pointless. No notes were taken, and no information on prehistoric medicine was learnt. Had he been anyone else but Gaara he would have sprinted out of that classroom at the sound of the bell. Being Gaara he prefered to glide out of the classroom like it should have been honoured he was even in it. After calmly making his way down the stairs and realising that he in fact had no idea where to go, and letting Naruto tell him would have been a good idea, he decided to take action.

Asking directions was one thing he would never do. His sense of direction was so presice that it was unnecesary. It was just broken. His internal compass was having a bad day. So he went for the next option. He followed the next person who passed him who also looked vaguelly arty.

It wasn't hard. The guy had a ponytail for starts. And this big bang over one of his eyes. If that didn't strike you as 'arty' and slightly gay well, your a lost cause. So Gaara, having nothing else to lose, decided to follow the guy. The fact the guy was carrying a sketch book wasn't the reason he thought he could possibly take art either, no it was Gaara's amazing sense of judgement. So when the guy lead him into an art classroom, Gaara wasn't surprised.

Looking round he saw about twenty students all working on different projects, and one student waving frantically at him. That one student was Naruto ladies and gentlemen.

"Gaara!" he said. Gaara ignored him, but sat down next to him none-the-less.

"How was your first lesson?" he asked. Gaara shrugged.

"That bad eh? Well at least you didn't have Sasuke in your class. He spent the whole lesson lobbing bits of paper at me. Seriously I could have hit him by the end of it," Naruto said nodding.

"You should," Gaara said automatically. Naruto gave him an odd look.

"Not here I couldn't," he said. Gaara decided to leave it there and instead turned to the teacher. Or rather the guy he'd decided to follow.

"Hey hey, look here for just a second yeah?" he said. What did Naruto call him again? Oh yeah, Deidara. Funny name for a funny looking guy.

"Is everyone nearly finished with their projects yeah?" he asked. There was a vague 'yeaah' rippling across the classroom. Gaara watched as the guy seemed to noticed him.

"Oi you, new kid. Ask the guy next to you what to do yeah," he said before turning to scribble something on the board. Gaara turned to Naruto who seemed geared up to tell him what to do. He decided to let him.

"You need to do a project in a certain artists style, copy some of their work and write critical appraisals on what you copy. Know what that is?" Naruto asked. Gaara shook his head.

"You can borrow my guidelines sheet, it says what to include. Wanna see mine?" ah there it was. The real question that Naruto had been dying to ask him. It was so obvious. Gaara considered saying no, but decided against it. It wouldn't do anything, just piss the blond off. So he nodded. The smile that appeared on Naruto's face almost made it worth it for some reason. Almost.

He looked down at the work before him.

"Bleach?" he said, looking at the pictures of the manga in the sketch pad. Naruto nodded.

"Yeah Tite Kubo is one of my favourite artists," he said smiling slightly, tracing one of the characters he'd drawn with his finger. Gaara watched on, slightly surprised at the others actions, but then again not really. It was Naruto he was watching. He felt the need to say something encouraging for some reason.

"It's nice," he said, the words foreign against his tongue, feeling slightly bitter and sounding insincere. Naruto smiled at him though, and thanked him.

That lesson was also a waste of time Gaara thought, thinking back on it as he lay on his bed, lights off, arms folded on chest.

All he had done is watch Naruto draw and forget to ask him to borrow the guidelines sheet. The whole day was pointless.

The lesson he'd had after that had turned out to be double Science with some creepy guy called Orochimaru, who Gaara really didn't want to have detention with the following Friday for having no equipment in his lesson. Safe to say the guy was a twat considering the fact it was his first day in school...ever. But he really couldn't be bothered to argue. He considered hitting him and getting permanently suspended for GBH and assualting a teacher, but that would have caused him to get arrested and he could not be bothered with that. So he was stuck with detention.

Last lesson was English, barely worth mentioning considering he'd spoken the language since he was one. And there was his shitty day, topped off with a bus ride where some idiot had decided that a food fight would be an amazing idea. Where they had got the food from Gaara would like to know. Especially since some of it had gotten on his shoe. Had Gaara actually been paying attention on the bus and noticed this, there would have been trouble. Trouble as in the guy who had thrown it would have been thrown out of the window...or through depending on his mood.

And so he was lying in the dark wishing he'd had coffee that morning. He'd had to have two cups full to the brim as soon as he got back into the house to make up for it. Damn that Naruto for...distracting him. But he was surprised. He was fully expecting before he arrived here to enter the school and go on a mass killing spree. Heck, that's what Temari and Kankurou had expected as well. But no. He'd actually lasted an entire day without maiming another student. Yes, it was probably because he hadn't had coffee or sleep, therefore was not particulary awake, but still it was a small achievement.

A knock against the door caused him to sit up. Even though he knew who it had to be, he couldn't help but be slightly suspicious. Whenever Temari knocked it was to tell him she had cooked some god-awful meal, and whenever Kankuro...well he just didn't avoided Gaara's room altogether. This knocking however was followed by a soft.

"Hey Gaara, can I come in?"

Gaara turned on the light (he was _not _risking another conversation like the one he had had the day before) and opened the door. He saw the smiling face of Naruto...well not just the smiling face. His body was there as well. His body in tight jeans.

"I see you took my advise about the light," the tight jeans...er, Naruto said gesturing upwards. Gaara ignored him and walked in. His eyes were still adjusting to the the change and he blinked a few times, hoping to clear the fuzziness. When he had eradicated all fuzz, he turned to see Naruto sitting on the floor in his trademark cross-leggedness looking different. Gaara pinned it on the serious expression across his face.

"Okay. Right," the other boy started. Gaara decided against rushing him and just sat patiently waiting for him to continue. He noticed that the other boy had one hand behind his head like he had done earlier that day in the office. Maybe it was a habit.

"You saw me about to jump off the bridge right?" the blonde continued. Gaara nodded feeling slightly uneasy. Or he thought it was uneasieness, he'd never eally felt it before.

"Well, why didn't you stop me?" he heard Naruto ask, and he made the mistake of looking down into wide kicked puppy eyes. Gaara swallowed, clearing his throat slightly.

"It wasn't any of my bussiness. You wanted to die, who was I to stop you," he said, looking straight at Naruto to gage his reaction. He saw the other boy nod.

"See I thought you'd say something like that," Naruto said, and Gaara could see the small smile on his face as the boy watched his own twisting hands lying between his crossed legs.

"I just wanted to tell you that, I'm still going to die," Naruto said, looking up again. Gaara ignored the clenching in his gut as he heard that declaration. He decided not to answer.

"I just wanted you to know. Because, you seem to er...like me," Naruto said. Gaara waited.

"I just want you to know what you're getting into if you er...date me," Gaara couldn't help but notice the blush "because I'm still going to die,"

Gaara also couldn't help but notice the fact that Naruto never once mention the words 'suicide' or said he'd 'kill himself'. He always said 'die'. Gaara decided to test this.

"So you're still going to kill youself?" he asked, seeing the small barely noticable flinch.

"Yeah I'm going to die,"

The way the blond was phrasing it was like he had no choice in the matter. Like he was dying of a disease, not that he was taking his own life. It was almost like the boy was losing his resolve before Gaara's very own eyes. And for some reason, Gaara was glad of that.

"I still want to date you," he said in a monotone in a moment which should have been inappropriate, yet seemed to be the best time to say it. Naruto looked up scrutinising his facial expression, before visibly relaxing.

"Okay then," he heard the blond mutter. Gaara decided to continue.

"When exactly are you planning on doing it?" he asked, fully aware that he was being insensitive, yet justifying it with his own reasoning.

"When I've planned it right," Naruto said. Gaara narrowed his eyes.

"Planned it?" Naruto nodded.

"Everything's got to have a plan. It's all one big plan," he said. Gaara wasn't sure the other was aware of what he had just said. It was unsettling to see such a void expression on the other's face, and was almost glad when the boy seemed to snap out of it with a grin.

"I'll talk to you tomorow," he said, jumping up (quite literally) and planting a small kiss on Gaara's cheek, so fast the red-head could barely react. The boy had left the room before he'd even turned to face the door.

His face burning red (his will power did nothing to battle the raging hormones), he sat feeling confused, not only for himself but the other boy who clearly had no idea what to think. Gaara wasn't even sure Naruto wanted to kill himself anymore. He knew the other boy was saddened, and knew that most of what you saw of him was a careful act, but he seemed to be wavering in his decision.

Gaara, in a spur of the moment kind of thing (whilst still buzzing slightly from Naruto's innocent kiss) decided to make a plan of himself. Naruto was interesting. He (dare he say it) almost kind of maybe liked him. So if the boy killed himself it would be bad on his part also (who else would he kiss?). So Gaara had a plan. He was going to stop Naruto killing himself. He was going to do what he saw in a film one time very late at night on one of those real-life-film programmes. He was going to 'convince him to live'...

tbc.

Tada! I didn't like it..I never do [is nervous] but maybe you did?

It was quite long though, maybe that makes up for it? Please review...I'm losing confidence in my fanfictions...and by the way I AM going to add a new chapter to Pretty Rave Boy (if ya know what I'm talking about) soon...because I have to. And please read my other fic if you like the pairing GrimmIchi...if you don't then read it anyway or some other GrimmIchi because that pairing is love 3 hehe I'm so advertising myself here :)

But please review and give me some advise...this is un beta'd (probably because no beta could put up with my long term writer's blocks) but I hope you liked it ^^

Next chapter: Gaara begins his master 'plan' and possibly learns somethings along the way. Naruto questions his resolve for suicide, but could an incident involving a certain friend of Sasuke set him back? And will Naruto need proffesional help? Tune in for the next installment...when I have written it :3 [goes off to write]


	8. Mobile phone, firebells and big swords

Er...hi? (creeps out from behind giant exam book). I guess I should start with an apology. I am really sorry this chapter has taken so long to be posted/written. You probably don't care why so I won't bore you with the details only my life has been really hard over the last few months and fan fiction was the last thing on my mind. Now however I have three months off and I may (gasp) start updating regularly again. I aim to finish this in those three months. And my other fics. But this is main priority.  
And yeah, sorry if it's not that good...I'm kind of rusty.

Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, faved and alerted...I personally reply to most of them, but my internet dies at the most inconvenient times, so sorry if you didn't get one. I love all of them. And those people who just read it. Have some love as well. I'm just a loveable human being :)

Disclaimer: I own nothing, so don't sue. Plot is mine though...no one else would want it...

Without further ado (not that you bothered to read the above sentences) I present to you chapter eight...which is also the longest chapter I have ever written (gasp)

* * *

Gaara was thinking. His hair was currently dripping shower water onto his pillow and a puddle was forming around his head, but he was so engrossed in his 'thinking' that he hardly noticed. The cold early morning shower he'd just taken had woken him enough for him to realise that his 'epiphany' of sorts last night may be a slight problem. And that was the reason he was lying fully clothed on his bed in the dark thinking of Naruto. He hadn't thought it through.

He wanted to convince him to live. But how exactly was he supposed to do this. In all the films he'd seen, the man had captured the woman's heart through various pointless acts of romance, and cured her broken heart (these suicidal feeling were always caused by a broken heart, never anything vaguely practical). But as far as he was aware, Naruto had no broken heart. Gaara himself was also not one to be particularly 'romantic' per say.

He wasn't even fully aware the extent of his interest to Naruto. He knew he found him interesting, but wasn't sure how much further it went. He definitely found the other attractive. Especially when wearing jeans. Tight...jeans. Yeah. And he liked being with him to an extent. But he was still confused. He didn't even 'love' his siblings more then was obliged, and even then he was certain the extent of his 'feelings' only just reached the 'putting up with mild annoyance'. He put up with Kankuro's Leona Lewis obsession because he had to, because the only other option was murdering his older sibling and Gaara really had no intention of serving a jail sentence. Not because of his 'deep affectionate love' towards the other.

He'd decided though. Ignoring his confusing reasoning on the matter, he had decided to 'convince Naruto to live', therefore he bloody well would 'convince Naruto to live'. There was no way he was backing down now. It was Gaara v's Naruto's-Various-Suicidal-Thoughts-And-Tendencies, and despite having a shorter team name, he was going to win. Now all he had to do was decide how he was going to do it. He could...well...he could stop him dying? That wouldn't really be convincing him to live though...

On the other hand what was he supposed to do now? He was now a 'boyfriend'...what did this require? From films he saw that they'd give girlfriends flowers and chocolate, but Naruto wasn't a girl and he really didn't want to be giving the other chocolate...he was hyper enough without the extra sugar. Maybe it was all the coffee he drank...

Gaara sighed and reached up to grip his hair. This was harder then he'd first thought. He now had (shudder) 'responsibility'. He winced as he felt his fingers turn damp. On further inspection he found a Gaara sized damp spot spread across his pillow and sat up, blinking.

His ears strained to pick up a faint noise. It sounded like it was coming from his half unpacked suitcase. Narrowing his eyes and glaring in the vague direction of the case he stood and walked gracefully (he definitely did not shuffle) across the room and casually (100% not groping around madly like a deranged blind person) flicked on the light switch. Wincing as the light hit his eyes he turned to the situation at hand.

Operation 'vibrating suitcase'. Anyone lesser then Gaara at that moment in time would have started humming the mission impossible theme tune out loud. Gaara, the mature being he is, merely 'thought' it. He found, from experience, that this gains a lot less strange looks (especially in the presence of other people), whilst still allowing the satisfaction of being a spy (if only for 30 seconds).

There were only so many things it could be to be perfectly honest, each more unlikely then the less.

A bomb. This was deemed incredibly unlikely considering the fact that it was he who had packed the case, and he would have remembered packing an explosive devise in amongst his clothing. It just wasn't something you'd tend to forget really. Yeah. At the very least he'd of rememberered thinking 'well this is weird' on viewing the bomb.

If it wasn't bomb, what...no. Gaara's eyes narrowed. Again. It was vibrating. Vibrating. What vibrated better then a vibrator itself? Now Gaara was completely sure he had not himself packed a...you know. Meaning if it was...one of them, it would have had to have been Kankuro. Yes, he could see it now, Kankuro creeping into his room and depositing the...thing into his suitcase.

Feeling his anger rise at the mere thought, he stalked over to his suitcase (still looking amazingly hot mind you, even during mid-stalk), and ripped the zip across, yanking out various articles of clothing to get his hands on it (merely so he could remove it of course. Not for, er, 'usage'...).

There. There is was. That small shiny...mobile phone? Gaara felt his glare lessen slightly, only to return at full power. Since when did he own a mobile phone? Why was there a mobile phone in his suitcase? That would indicate that it was his, and he most certainly did not have one.

Temari. That's it. She must have bought him one. Why? Why had she wasted her money on something he neither wanted nor needed? They were annoying. They beeped, rang, _vibrated. _The amount of boy's he'd seen walking down the streets, their tracksuits round their ankles playing 'rap music' from their mobiles had been enough to put him off the idea. That and the fact that it would encourage 'interaction'. He'd feel obliged to talk to people if they rang him. When he left the house it was so that they wouldn't know where he was, so he could escape, if he had a phone with him, it would defeat the object. They'd be able to speak to him _wherever he went. _

He was tempted to throw the thing back in the suitcase and set it on fire. Or to crush it with his black doc martins. Or to throw it hard as he could against the wall and laugh at it's cruel fate. It was a phone. It could not stop him, he, Gaara, ruler of all things electronic or otherwise. But no. The fact it had vibrated had meant he'd received a call or message of some kind. Before he decided the phones untimely death, he'd at least check who the hell had contacted him.

He flipped it open, staring in disbelief at the pink rose hovering behind the 'one new message'. It was mocking him. He just knew it. Ignoring it for the time being, he clicked on various buttons until something happened (he noted that the left button seemed to open the text...although he did click on about ten others, so then again it may not).

_Hey Gaara, this is Temari._

_I gt you a phne so u betr use it. _

_Just wnted to ask how it was going? _

_Have u mde any friends?_

_Me and Kank r gonna be in cafe in town 2moz. _

_Meet us at 4.30 kk? _

_Temari._

The first thing Gaara noticed was the merged use of 'text talk'. Temari had a contract phone as far as he was aware. What was the point of shortening words when you got free texts? He noticed that she hadn't managed to succeed fully in using the 'text talk'. He was sure 'friends' could be shortened. And '2moz'. What? Tomorow? It didn't even have a 'z' in it. Where did the 'z' come from?

Gaara sighed. Then realised what the text was asking. 'Have you made any friends'? Had he? A mental image of Naruto flashed up, flushed and sweating. Beating down the blush he clicked on reply. He typed on word. 'Yes'. And send. He didn't need to add that that friend wasn't just a friend. He was a 'boyfriend'.

The realised his mistake. Now they were going to think he was meeting them. Great. Just great. He hoped Temari had an incredibly loud text tone, and his 6.00 text would cause a fatal 'accident' as the noise caused her to fall ungracefully to her death from her bed. Yes the chances were slim, but her bed was quite tall...you know, for a bed.

Ignoring the pansy background (literally and figuratively) he clicked on contacts. Wow. He had a contact. Temari. What a surprise, his sister had added her number to his contact list. Some part of him was embarrassed that his only contact was his sister, but that part was beaten down quite ruthlessly by his masculinity which assured him that the less contacts, the more manly you were. You were so manly, no one wanted to talk to you. That shows real masculinity.

He briefly wondered if Naruto had a phone. Another urge arose, this time to knock on Naruto's door and ask for his number. This urge was shot and killed by his common sense reminding him not only of the time, but the fact that that would be pretty desperate. So with one last glare at his pansy, he slammed the phone shut, pocketed it, and headed out his room for some beautiful caffeine...

* * *

Naruto was wide awake. He was clumsily hitting the keys of his laptop as he typed with one finger stabbing each key with enough force to kill. Sometimes he pressed too hard, too long and a line of letters appeared, causing him to jam angrily at the delete, often over deleting in his haste and having to re-type the whole word. It was worth it though. No, with his password in place (shiny123) no one could ever read his lists again. That was definitely worth a bit of button jamming.

"Shit," he whispered, misspelling wrist, the ominous red line appearing underneath to point out and mock his mistake. Well he'd leave it, just to spite it. And anyway those silent letters pissed him off. They were just so...silent...no he couldn't leave the red line there, it ruined his list. He right clicked and changed it with a sigh. There goes his inner rebel.

He was quite proud of his list. 'Ways to kill myself, by Naruto'. He didn't know why he wrote 'by Naruto' considering the fact that he would be the only one to read it. But he did, and as no one else would read it, no one could mock it.

1. Jump off bridge.

2. Overdose: need pills.

3. Slit wrists: need knife/razor.

4. Shoot myself: need gun.

He'd narrowed it down to those four and yet again it looked like the bridge was the most likely option. Just, for some reason, he didn't get such a buzz from planning his demise as he had done the week before. For some reason, Gaara kept flashing up into his thoughts. No. He had to stay focused. His death was going to be so perfect, so beautiful that they'd all feel guilty. That they'd all feel sorry. But Gaara.....

No. He opened google and typed in 'ways to kill yourself'. There. Focus on the task at hand. Not Gaara (as focus-able as he was). No luck though. They were all joke websites. 'Tie yourself to a dozen balloons and float to your death'. How about no. 'Various ways to kill yourself using fish tanks'? This was a joke. He was looking for practical ways. Mind you, any one who had had a successful suicide wouldn't exactly be around to blog about it...

He sighed. And thought of Gaara. Gaara with his red hair, his thin face, his slightly toned physique, tall stature, piercing green eyes....urgh, he needed a coffee. Out of the corner of his eyes he noticed an on screen pop-up. 'How to kiss like a god'. That sounded promising. Naruto knew never to click on po pups. He knew all to well. But it was quarter to six in the morning and he'd spent all night plotting his death. He was tired, and he wasn't functioning quite right. So he clicked on it.

Two men. Two men together. Doing things. His eyes widened as he took in the provocative image, one man licking the other mans...their legs wrapped around...his tongue...SLAM.

He slammed the lid down. Naruto just blinked. He knew he had a blush that could rival Gaara's hair. And he knew he was still in his clothes from the day before. But at that moment he REALLY needed a coffee. Standing up, he walked out the room, eyes still wide, and shut his door quietly before making his way down the stairs. On entering the kitchen he saw the last person he could possibly want to see at that moment in time. Gaara. Sitting at the table glaring at what appeared to be a phone. Ignoring images that flashed up he smiled. He couldn't help it.

"Hey," he said. To the other boy's credit he didn't jump. Much. It could probably pass off as a twitch. Yeah.

"Hey," came the monotone reply, but Naruto saw him look away, trying to hide the fact he'd caught him unaware. Inwardly Naruto smiled. Hell yeah. He was a ninja.

"Is that your phone?" he asked. Gaara gave him a look as if to say 'no shit'. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Can I see?" he asked. Immediately the phone was grabbed back.

"No,"

Naruto ignored the sting of rejection he felt and ploughed on.

"Oh go on...please?" he asked, widening his eyes slighty. He saw Gaara try valiantly. It wasn't enough. Naruto had perfected the 'puppy dog' look years back. Now he thought about it, he really should have used it on Uchiha and co, rather then acting overly happy. It was a bit too late for that now though. It wouldn't have worked anyway. They'd still call him 'fag'.

"No,"

Wow. Gaara had resisted. That was a first. And he'd thought he'd got him...

"Why not?" he asked. There was no reply. Then a sigh.

"Fine," win "if you change the fucking background,"

Naruto nodded and held out his hand. Gaara dropped the phone into it and Naruto opened it, unable to prevent a sharp burst of laughter. A pansy. It was so ironic it was funny.

"Shut up," the red-head glared at him. Naruto grinned and clicked the menu button. Now where was that camera?

"It's not funny,"

"Sure it isn't Gaara," Naruto replied, dripping with sarcasm. Ah there it was.

"I didn't even choose it,"

"You say that Gaara, but we all know the truth," he focused the image.

"Shut up,"

"Your secret gardening urge is out in the open now," perfect.

"Shut...what was that flash?"

"Flash? What flash? I didn't see no flash?" Naruto was laughing inside so hard it hurt, but on the outside keep a cool fascade. He saw Gaara's glare intensify (he didn't think it were possible).

"What did you do Naruto?" he asked, his monotonic voice managing to ooze venom, whilst still sounding...well, monotonic.

"Do you really want to see?" Naruto replied, grinning. Gaara didn't even nod. Naruto turned the phone round, stifling a giggle. He could literally hear the grinding of the red-heads teeth as he saw the image.

"Naruto..."

"Don't you like it?" it said laughing, pulling it out of Gaara's reach (not that he tried to grab it...he was above that childish behaviour).

"Naruto..." It was more of a warning now.

"But you look so beautiful Gaara...the 'lazy eye' look is very in this season, and your mouth's open and everything!" okay, he was definitely pushing it now.

"Change-it," Naruto nearly gulped. Who knew two syllables could contain such raw killing intent.

"Fine, whatever," he muttered, opening the camera again, this time choosing to stand behind Gaara. Holding the phone in a 'myspace' style, he placed one arm round Gaara's shoulders (ignoring the inappropriate imagery from the picture he'd seen before...their arms were places no arms should be able to get).

"Smile," he said, grinning. It wasn't exactly fake either. He took it and turned the phone round, happy at the result. Gaara wasn't smiling, but he wasn't glaring as much as he normally did (probably out of shock). He removed his arm from Gaara's shoulder and selected the image as the wall paper. There, perfect. He turned to see Gaara giving him a 'look'. A look as if to say 'what the hell did you do that for?'. Naruto shrugged, quaking internally at what he was about to say.

"It's normal right? I mean we are dating right?" he waited, baited breath for the others reaction. Finally, the other boy nodded.

"Yeah," he said quietly. Naruto's grin widened.

"Do you want my number?" he asked, feeling slightly excited that he may soon be getting texts from someone other than T-Mobile. The other boy nodded, and Naruto quickly added his detail, taking yet another myspace shot for his caller ID, this time winking cheekily.

"Do you know your number?" he asked.

"I got the thing this morning," Gaara replied, taking a sip from his coffee (which reminded Naruto...he needed some, and he needed some soon).

"Is that a no then?" Naruto teased. Gaara didn't even grace him with an answer, instead just glaring at him over his mug. Which was being touched by his lips. His lips...oh god he was never clicking on anything other then google for the rest of his life. Which wouldn't be that long...but during that time, pop-ups were a 'no'.

He quickly called his phone, feeling his pocket vibrate and saved the number. He didn't dare risk another Gaara shot. He'd have to take the caller ID later. Instead he made his way over to the kettle.

"I just boiled it," he turned around to glance at Gaara and smiled.

"Oh okay," that was good. That meant less time would be wasted making the coffee, and more time could be spent drinking it. Win. He poured it onto the granules, watching as they melted. Or evaporated. Or something. They turned into coffee either way. As did the five spoon fulls of sugar. He stirred. He sipped. He sighed.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked Gaara, leaning on the counter top with one elbow propped by the now empty kettle.

"I don't," was the reply. Naruto furrowed his brow.

"Don't what?" he asked.

"Sleep," came Gaara's reply. Naruto opened his mouth and closed it.

"What?" came the reply after a few moments consideration. There was no reply.

"Why not?" he asked. He didn't expect a reply, and by the looks of Gaara's face neither did he. He heard one anyway.

"Nightmares," yeah...it must have slipped out. He had so many questions he wanted to ask about that answer, but refrained. It was obviously a sensitive subject. He added it to his list of things he wanted to know about Gaara. Yeah. He could officially make that list as well on Shiny. It was all good. But for now he could tell a subject change was needed.

"I get nightmares too," shit "not as much any more, but I used to get them every night," what happened to subject change? He watched as Gaara just nodded.

There was a thud from the upstairs followed by a shout.

"Fuck Sasuke, what the hell you doing hiding in the shower?"

"What the fuck does it look like I'm doing?"

"Having a shower?"

"Why do I put up with you, you fag?"

Ah, it seemed that Sasuke and Kiba were both awake. Naruto checked his watch. Indeed, it was the time in which the men of the house arose to begin their day. 7.30. Sure enough, his pocket began vibrating, and he hurriedly opened it and turned off his alarm. Hew still needed to set a new alarm tone since he'd deleted caramelldansen. Boys started appearing and walking casually in to join them in particular Neji and Shikamaru. They were doing that let's-not-look-Naruto-in-the-eyes-thing, which he ignored, but when they both started making 'small talk' it genuinely began to creep him out. What was with them lately? He'd only just replied hastily to Neji's 'Good morning' when Shikamaru started.

"Mornin' Naruto,"

"Morning," he said to the pony tailed boy, masking his suspicion. A thought hit him.

"Thanks again for helping with my laptop," he'd nearly said Shiny then, and god knows what they would have all thought...no, he knew exactly what they would have thought. It begins with 'f' and rhymes with leak.

Just as he said this a familiar, yet unwanted face appeared, towel drying their hair.

"It's no problem Naruto," Shikamaru had replied, lowering his gaze and dropping his voice.

"What is? Because being gay is definitely a big problem Shikamaru," Sasuke said, rubbing his hair. Naruto refrained from laughing at the spectacle. The pretty-boy's hair looked ridiculous all fluffed up like some poor animal forced to perch on his ego-inflated head.

"I helped him with his laptop, that's all," Shikamaru said, sounding unconcerned. If so then what was the glare Naruto was detecting etched across his features slightly?

"And why would you bother helping this freak?" Sasuke retorted. Shikamaru just carried on glaring. For some reason unknown to Naruto, Sasuke backed down. He just snorted with a quick 'whatever' and shoved past the other boy to the fridge.

"What you lookin' at fag?" he said, on catching Naruto's eye.

"Some poor animal perched on your head," that made a lot more sense in his head. Sasuke seemed to get the point anyway and his glare deepened (much like how Gaara's seemed to depending on how happy he was, only Gaara's was actually effective, Sasuke seemed to gather the look of a sexual predator...all that would achieve was getting the Uchiha name on a list, this time a lot more official then one of Naruto's 'who I want to die' lists).

"Fuck you," he said. Apparently emo-pretty-boy's brains cannot function before their hair has been straightened, hence the 'come back', which had the originality of a teabag. Not a lot.

Naruto decided to ignore him and not rise to the bait. It would be childish to retort with 'I know you want to, but can you refrain from thinking out loud, it's putting me off my coffee'.

"What did you just say fag?" oh. Had he spoken out loud? By the reaction he guessed he must have.

"Did you just imply I was gay? Did you just call me a fag?" Naruto sighed and turned to face the pretty-boy.

"You have more hair-care products then the average woman, spend twice the amount of time staring at your face in the mirror then the average woman and wear so much leather I'm surprised there's any cows left. Your so flaming I'm surprised your not on fire yet," he said calmly, grinning. Ha. That showed him. Stupid pretty boy. He took a sip of his coffee, ignoring the angry silence, and look of disbelief echoed on all boys faces (except Gaara who merely quirked the space where the eyebrow should have been upwards slightly).

"Fuck you you fucking homo, seriously just shut the fuck up. Go and SLIT YOUR FUCKING WRISTS you loser, NO ONE would give a shit if you went and DIED" it wasn't original. Not by a long shot. 'Fuck' was used a lot more times then necessary. But it still hurt. It still hurt to hear him say that. It hurt to think about. And as commotion occurred around him, he still couldn't think straight. As Gaara stood and slammed Sasuke into the fridge it didn't register. As Shikamaru started shouting at the boy, the words didn't process. Because he was right. No one would give a shit. No. No he was wrong. Gaara would care. Gaara would give a shit. Gaara had to give a shit. He had to care.

"Fuck you. You'd better watch it," he heard, as he snapped himself out of it. Gaara had Sasuke pinned to the fridge as Sasuke hissed this. Gaara didn't bat an eye, merely slammed him against it once more and let him go (which he did with a final indignant 'hn'). Naruto looked at him, there's eyes meeting for a second. He heard Shikamaru sigh, and walk out muttering. On looking around it seemed that Neji had left and no one else had entered. They were alone.

"Thanks," Naruto muttered. Gaara said nothing. He just stared at him, his eyes revealing nothing and his features blank. Then Naruto felt himself pulled into a short kiss, their lips meeting for barely seconds, crushed against each other in a bruising grip before he was released and the red-head walked out, not looking back. It was around this time, amongst the daze and sudden feeling of floating and flowers circling him in a dance to the 'lalalala' repeating in his head....that he realised he was still wearing clothes from the day before. Sighing, he made his way out the door...

* * *

Gaara had no idea why he'd kissed him. It was nice, hell great even, but he didn't know why he'd done it. Maybe because the shorter boy had looked so lost. That fucking pretty boy was lucky Gaara hadn't decided to grab one of the kitchen knives conveniently left on the counter and stabbed him in the pretty-boy-face. Or cut off his hair. Both acts would have caused him to die or something equally as dramatic.

How dare he fucking say something like that. One mystery solved though. Not really a mystery. Just wondering. He now knew that Shikamaru had read the notebook. And probably pretty-boy, by what the pinapple had been screeching. 'How can you say that when you read it?'. That was a confession if anything. Definitely. Luckily Naruto had been out of it at the time or Gaara would find himself in a whole other load of shit. He was already having to figure out 'boyfriending' and 'convincing someone to live', avoiding Naruto's wrath about the notebook would take severe effort. Maybe he should tell him what he saw. Then again, judging by his reaction when pretty-boy had even mentioned suicide, maybe that would not be such a good idea. Some saviour he would be if he told him and it drove him over the edge. No. He'd keep quiet, at least for now.

He was just finalising these thoughts as he stepped back out his room. He placed his bag over his shoulder. It was black and covered in safety pins. He personally considered himself a wizard with safety pins. It was just one of his many talents. Either way, as he shouldered his bag, he just so happened to see Naruto walk towards him. His 'boyfriend' (this was going to take some getting used to). In jeans again. So...tight. So...orange? Either way, they were tight. Squeezingly tight. He closed his mouth at the bright smile his...'boyfriend' gave him.

"Hey," he felt he should say something like 'are you okay?' to this reply, but his mouth wouldn't form the words, instead saying...

"Orange skinny jeans?" well at least he said something. Naruto looked affronted.

"The only colour _for _skinny jeans. You can't have black ones. Too boring. And anything else is just obnoxiously bright," he said nodding.

"And orange isn't?" Gaara asked, smirking. They began to walk down the stairs, side by side.

"Nope. Orange is a natural colour. Oranges are orange," Naruto said, still nodding to himself.

"But you're not wearing oranges," Gaara said.

"Nooo, but I'm wearing orange right? And oranges have vitamin C in them," okaaay...

"And what does vitamin C have to do with skinny jeans?" he asked. Naruto cocked his head.

"It means I'm healthy," he said, grinning.

"..no it doesn't" Gaara said, deadpan. Naruto shrugged.

"Well no. But I like orange," he said, grinning sheepishly.

"And you couldn't have said that to start with because?" Gaara asked as they reached the door.

"Because I'm an interesting individual who finds people who use three word sentences rather boring," Naruto said winking. Gaara felt he should have been mildly offended at what he was implying, but instead found it all rather amusing. He glared none the less, more mockingly then anything else. Naruto put his hands up.

"Luckily we don't know any of those people," he said hastily, though Gaara could tell he was only joking. He scoffed and opened the door, both of them walking out, still side by side.

They sat next to each other on the bus, ignoring the taunts. Well, not so much ignoring, rather imagining each of them being killed in equally painful ways. Gaara didn't rise to it though. It was hard to have a conversation when someone coughKibacough was having a rather loud conversation about you, at the back of the bus, to just about everyone on the bus. So they didn't talk. They just listened to music. Naruto offered him an earphone, but on inspecting his ipod found a mixture of decent music and shit. Who the hell was DJ Splash? No, he stuck with his own headphones, blasting deafness into his ears.

On stepping off the bus and into the building, he disentangled his crumpled timetable from his bag and glanced down. First thing first he had maths. Oh the joys. With some woman.

"Oooh you've got Anko. She's pretty tough," Naruto said nodding.

"I should know, I've got her first for maths," he said, his face dropping. Gaara tilted his head.

"Doesn't that we've both got her then?" he asked. Naruto's head shot up and he grabbed the paper.

"Oh yeah," he said, after a moments deliberation. Gaara could have rolled his eyes then, he really could. He could have, but he didn't. He felt Naruto grab his arm.

"Come on, we can't be late then. You'll _just _get away with it for being new, but I'll be killed in some ruler-related accident involving Anko, and a ruler," Gaara allowed himself to be dragged along, and looked at Naruto questioningly.

"That bitch would aim to kill Gaara. Maiming just wouldn't cut it," he said, and Gaara felt his hand slide down slightly, closer to his hand. Gaara felt himself pulled and dragged though various crowds of people (all giving them odd looks, which Gaara just repelled with his manliness), until they stopped outside a door. Gaara felt Naruto drop his wrist and watched as the blonde checked the time. He looked up smiling.

"We made it," he said happily, just as a woman appeared from behind the door, causing Naruto to jump. Definitely not Gaara. He never jumped. He looked up to observe the woman. She was average size, with short purple hair. It was dyed. Gaara could see the beginning of roots. She was wearing a fishnet top over a shirt (odd combination) and shorts, all in all looking nothing like a maths teacher.

"Naruto," she said. Gaara noticed the blonde jump again slightly. He saw her eyes flicker to him.

"Who's this?" she asked, smirking slightly. He glared back.

"Gaara. He's, er, new," Naruto said. Gaara noticed the grin was back. The overly happy fake grin that appeared 98% of the day.

"Gaara?" she repeated. Gaara nodded sharply.

"Weird name eh? Bit like Naruto," she said. Gaara refrained from making a comment on her hardly normal name. He heard Naruto squawk indignantly.

"What's wrong with Naruto? It's a great name, it means 'so-much-better-then-you'" sure enough, Naruto was standing, the defiance however not looking so fake.

"It means fish cake, kid" the maths teacher said. Gaara watched as Naruto glared, then seemed to realise something.

"Oh, and Gaara's name isn't weird either," he said, as an afterthought. Gaara snorted.

"Yeah yeah, whatever kid. I hope your ready for some Pythagoras," maths woman said. Naruto gave an overly dramatic 'noooo', turning to Gaara for help. Gaara shrugged. Frankly he was just a bit confused. Naruto sighed and conceded, muttering under his breath before making his way into the class room. It was empty, so for once Gaara was no directed to a free seat, instead sat next to the blonde as his 'fellow' students piled in. What fun.

He saw those girls from history he was forced to sit next to, whose names he had forgotten, and the girl they were talking about sit at the opposite side of the classroom. Inwardly, Gaara was cheering. Outwardly, he was unmoved, like an ice sculpture, only so much hotter. Yeah, that sounded about right. The maths woman stood and faced the classroom, now full of chattering students. Gaara just looked bored.

"Alright kids. Pythagoras," there were collective groans (Naruto's particularly loud earning him a few glares. Gaara glared back twice as glaringly and felt a sharp satisfaction as they backed down).

"Oh shut up the lotta you. It ain't fun, and it ain't gonna be of any use to you when you're drowning in a lake, but when your sitting in an exam your _future on the line _you **will** be thanking me. Is that clear?" there was a collective yes.

"Now turn to page 32 and read it. You've got brains use 'em" she said, sitting back on the desk and examining her nails. There were a few scattered yes's. She looked up.

"What was that?" Gaara felt like he was looking in the mirror for that second, the general evil she had managed to covey in those three words was something she had no doubt practised long and hard to achieve (Gaara knew he had). There was a firm 'yes miss'.

Then the fire alarm rang.

Every student in that room saw the pure hatred cloud her face, hence the reason Gaara found himself dragging Naruto out the door, trying to ward off student pressed against him in the rush, with his aura. They must have sensed the danger, as Gaara had soon dragged Naruto out of the classroom and into the clear. Then realised he had no idea where to go. He faced Naruto, letting go of his wrist at the same time, as if just realising he was holding it. Naruto didn't react to this, using his other hand to point.

"We line up on the car park," he said. Gaara nodded, and left to follow the crowds of students. Naruto caught up with him, talking over the noise.

"That was lucky," he said. Gaara glanced at him.

"Can't you do Pythagoras?" he himself could remember doing it last year, with his 'tutor'. He'd hated it then, and hated it now, but could still do it. Naruto looked at him oddly.

"Sure I can. I don't like it though," he said. Gaara didn't answer, merely continued his journey through the crown of students. God, it was like an infestation. He felt Naruto jog to catch up with him, nudging his arm, as they made their way down the schools steps. The bell was still ringing at an incredibly annoying pitch, and it made Gaara want to crush who ever had started that fire.

"It's a shame it's just a practise," he heard Naruto say. He turned to face his slightly.

"Practise?" he asked. Naruto nodded, and Gaara felt him grab his sleeve slightly, so he wasn't split up. The students around them were literally running. And screaming. Gaara wished they'd just die.

"Yeah, it's just a drill. The head's already standing there," Naruto said, and Gaara glanced over to where Naruto was pointing. A woman stood on the grass by the car park, her breasts almost twice the size of her head. Gaara concluded then and there, that the school he had been sent to was not normal. Not by a long shot. The woman wasn't wearing a skirt. Or trousers. Just a shirt that hung low, covering her 'vital areas'. Repeat, the school was not normal.

"Oi, line up by class," she shouted to the students approaching, and Gaara saw about thirty lines of various students. Her felt a tug on his sleeve.

"Anko's is this way," he heard Naruto say, and felt himself get tugged toward the line.

"Anko'll be here in a few minutes, she'll need to calm down from her precious Pythagoras being interrupted," Naruto said, giggling slightly. Gaara smirked.

"This happen often?" he asked. Naruto nodded.

"Yup," he smiled brightly. Gaara was glad to see it wasn't completely fake.

"And how many of these involve real fires?" Gaara asked. Naruto looked thoughtful, and began counting on his fingers before concluding...

"None,"

Well this was productive, Gaara thought sarcastically. He looked around for something to ease the boredom of standing doing nothing, and found his eyes meet another's. She was average height,, pretty normal looking other then her red eyes and hair. Gaara was not just angry at the fact she had red hair (that was his thing...at least _his _was natural, whereas this girl in front of him obviously had to have dyed it. It was that matted and dry looking. Not to mention it was too short on one side and long on the other. Yeah, Gaara so won with the hair on this...his hair was practically drenched in 'sexy'). He was also angry at the fact she was glaring at Naruto. Blatantly so, through her small glasses. So Gaara glared back.

He watched as she turned to tap the boy behind her, and glanced over. The boy, who was unbelievably tall, with light orange hair (or ginger as Gaara liked to call it) then also began to glare at Naruto. Gaara turned to face his 'boyfriend', to see if he'd noticed. No. He had not noticed. He was humming to himself. Had Gaara not been Gaara, he would have face palmed. Being Gaara, he merely ignored the fact his 'boyfriend' was an idiot and made work of glaring back at the ginger and the hair-dying-girl-with-hair-not-as-sexy-as-Gaara's.

This proved to be a greater effort then Gaara had originally thought especially since the two had decided to glare at the blonde almost the entire day. When the were walking back into lesson, their eyes followed him. Even during lunch, Gaara felt the pairs eyes narrow at the blonde, and short of walking over their and smashing their faces in, there was little he could do. Despite the fact that this was rather an appealing idea, he would get suspended and it would take considerable effort. Plus Temari would cry, and that was always enough to turn his stomach. So as he walked out of the school, Naruto in tow, the sight of them nowhere around was a beautiful sight indeed.

"Gaara!" he turned to face Naruto, who looked rather excited.

"What?" he replied, fully aware how monotone his voice sounded.

"I've made a spontaneous decision...again," the blonde said smiling. When it became clear there would be no elaborating, he replied.

"What?" he said...again.

"I'm going to the square to buy a T-Shirt," he said. Well that was unexpectedly normal.

"Okay," he said, not quite sure what to say.

"Do you want to come with me?" ah there it was, the real reason. He opened his mouth to reply, when a sudden thought hit him. He was supposed to be meeting up with Temari and Kankuro at the cafe wherever that was, at half four. He was guessing it was the one that Temari always told him about. It was in town. Should he go? His first rational answer was no. No he should not. But then he thought about why they may want to meet up with him. To discuss his schooling? To take him home? He was torn. He wanted to go home, but at the same time, he hadn't completed him mission. Either way it was probably safer to find out what the hell they wanted.

"Gaara?" his thoughts were broken by Naruto's voice. Ah. He still hadn't given him a clear answer.

"I've got to meet my siblings," he said abruptly. Naruto's face showed his confusion.

"Um, okay. You have siblings?" Naruto asked him. He hadn't mentioned them to him. Gaara nodded.

"Yes. Kankuro and Temari. They're not important," he said offhandedly. Naruto looked shocked.

"Yes they are, if they're your brother and sister," he said. Gaara glared slightly.

"They're useless," he said monotone.

"Even so, they're family," Naruto said, sounding slightly sad. Before Gaara could say anything though, he spoke again.

"So what time are you meeting them? Oh, and where?" it was a subject change had Gaara ever seen one.

"Half four, at this cafe in town," he said. Naruto perked up.

"So you can come to town with me?" he looked so hopeful. Gaara let him down gently.

"I'll get the bus with you, but it's at a different stop," he said. If he remembered correctly it was on the outskirts, about three stops before the one Naruto normally got off at. Naruto seemed to deflate, and Gaara was tempted to screw the meeting and say he'd go, but there was a smile on the blonde's face before he had the chance.

"It's okay. I'll see you when you get back right? And I'll be wearing my new T-Shirt," he said happily. Gaara could see it was fake, and was angered by this, but didn't saying anything, just begrudgingly walked to the stop with the shorter boy.

It was when the other started _describing _the new T-Shirt that he had to say something.

"Why are you lying?"

He watched as the blonde whipped round, mouth opening and closing, before opening, as if to reply. He was spared answering however by the arrival of the bus. Inwardly Gaara cursed as the boy stepped onto the bus. He'd nearly gotten an answer. He payed no attention to the other passengers arriving, instead content with glaring at the blonde.

"Well?" he saw the other fidget uncomfortably. The bus started to move.

"Well what?" an avoidance technique.

"Answer the question," he said, crossing his arms across his chest, leaning heavily into the seat, his eyes fixed on the blonde.

"What question?" he wasn't going to rise to the bait.

"Why are you lying?" he said calmly. Naruto avoided his eyes.

"I'm not," he said. Another lie. He decided to leave it, instead staring out the window at the passing cars.

"Gaara?" he heard Naruto say. Wow, must be a new record, the blonde just said something quietly.

"What," he replied. He could feel the blonde shifting.

"Nothing," he was fine with that. He'd talked more in the past three days then he had in a full year. And it was tiring him out. He saw his stop approaching and without turning to even look, pressed the button. The bus came to a standstill. He turned to face Naruto.

"Bye," he said. Despite the lack of any emotion in that one word, Naruto still beamed up at him, for real this time. It was unexpected, and gave him such an urge to lean in and capture that smile with his lips that he turned sharply and hurried of the bus, keeping his eyes straight ahead and not thanking the driver and he stepped off. Not that he did normally. But he definitely didn't in that instance. If he could have he'd have said 'thanks for nothing', but didn't, instead hoisting his bag on his shoulder and watching out of the corner of his eye as the bus drove past in a flurry of red and blonde.

* * *

Naruto bit his lip and Gaara turned sharply and practically ran out of the bus. At least he'd said bye, but Naruto still couldn't shake the feeling that the other boy was angry at him. How had he seen through his lie? Of course he wasn't happy, he wanted to go out with Gaara (hence the reason he had suggested it in the first place). But he thought he'd covered it pretty well until that burst of random that came flying from the red-head's mouth. He glanced round the bus as it continued on it's way, seeing no one other then some couple in front...woah did she have weird hair. He felt a bit weird just staring at her though, so instead cast his eyes out the window.

He pushed the button as his stop came into sight. He sighed. He'd have to talk to Gaara later with his new T-Shirt. Why had he even suggested it? Now he'd have to go and buy a T-Shirt that matched the description he'd made up. He stood up as the bus stopped, nodding to the driver and stuffing his hands into his pockets and ramming his hoodie over his head.

His head was so Gaara-filled he barely heard the footsteps behind him. He still heard them though as he headed his normal route. There were two of them. Two sets of them. Or maybe more. He decided to ignore them. Concentrate on his own feet. Left, right, left, right. He stared down at his converse, watching as they caused small clouds of dust on each step.

It was when he heard the footsteps speed up that he decided to turn round, only to find himself shoved roughly back, a whole lot of person doing the shoving. He stared up at the figure above him. It was that guy on the bus, the one sitting next to the girl with weird hair meaning...yes, she was standing behind him. Watching. He coughed, propping himself onto his elbows.

"What the fuck was that for?" he asked angrily, letting out a manly yelp as he was lifted to his feet and slammed into the unforgiving surface of the brick wall. Now this wasn't fair. What had he ever done to the wall?

He grabbed at the boys wrists, trying to pry them off him, but found their vice like grip hard to shake. He tried none the less, kicking out wards, and this seemed to work as one hand released him...only to swing back, full force and hit hit across the face. Naruto felt his head snap back, pain erupting around his eye and neck. He turned to face him again.

"What did I fucking do?" he asked again, spitting out blood. He looked to the girl this time. She glared back at him.

"You hit Sasuke," ...

What? He voiced his shock out loud, earning a rough slam against the wall.

"You hurt him," she repeated. The irony of that sentence was so...well, ironic that he couldn't help but laugh.

"_I_ hurt _him_? You're joking right," he said. He winced as his back hit the wall.

"He pointed to you, he said that you hit him," the girl said, adamantly. Well this was news to him.

"One, it wasn't even me that hit him. Two, since when did he need girls to fight his battles for him?" he said laughing. He watched as the girl stalked over to him, stopping only as a voice echoed from the alley.

"I take it you didn't wait for me Karin," wait...this voice....

"Shut the fuck up, he was walking off," the girl turned to face the owner of the voice who walked over.

"Yeah yeah let's see who...Na-ru-to?" Naruto looked up, from where he was being held to face him. That boy, Suigestu something. The one who he always passed. (The one who seriously needed dentistry).

"Wait you know him?" the girl, (Karin apparently) said, turning sharply to face him. The boys face was one of shock, disbelief, and finally anger.

"Yes I fucking know him. Get off him," he said. He sounded angry for some reason Naruto could not comprehend. Then again, his head was hurting quite badly, so he wasn't able to comprehend much of anything.

"He hit Sasuke," the boy spoke for the first time. Naruto shook his head, looking almost pleadingly at the silver haired boy.

"Din't" he said. He noticed the boy was still carrying round a water bottle.

"He said he didn't, now let him go," Suigestu said. Naruto blinked. Everything was a bit fuzzy. All he knew was that the boy wasn't letting him go. He watched as the silver-haired boy drew a sword from his back, and the girl backed off.

"Hey, easy Suigetsu. Juugo...hey Juugo just let him go," the girl hissed, her glaring swapping between the rather large pointed sword and Naruto. Naruto felt the grip around his shoulder and neck loosen and he sank slightly , before steadying himself against the wall. He was amazed at how intimidating a boy could look whilst holding a sword and a water bottle, but believe me it was very. He watched as the girl grabbed this 'Juugo' and dragged him away, whilst being glared at by Suigetsu. And the he screamed.

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT ABOUT?" he turned to glare at Suigetsu, who looked shocked he was still here.

"Calm down Na-ru-to," the other boy said, taking a sip of water. His sword was now safely attached to his back, Naruto noticed with relief.

"I am calm. Now what the fuck happened?" he asked again, this time at a lower volume. The other boy sat down, his back against the wall. Naruto followed suit, ignoring his thoughts screaming _'personal hygiene_!'.

"Well I ain't sure myself. All I know is what they told me," he said.

"Which is?" Naruto asked. He was getting tired of this. His head hurt and he wanted to be in bed, listening to Papa Roach and plotting his death. Not talking to some freak with a long sword.

"Sasuke got hit. And when Karin asked him who, he pointed a ya. So she wanted to get revenge or somethin'. I just wanted some action," he said, taking another swig.

"I didn't hit him," he said. The other boy shrugged.

"Figured as much," he said.

"Wish I had," he said darkly. Suigetsu looked over at where he was sitting.

"Oh? An' why's that?" he asked, resting his elbows on his knees. Naruto thought how best to answer. He just went with the most obvious truth.

"He's a dick,"

The other boy grinned at him.

"That he is. I mean I'd beat on someone who wanted to kill 'im, but I can't deny he deserves a hit," he said laughing. Naruto smiled too, a bit warily (the other had a rather large sword, no pun intended). The other seemed to read his thoughts, as the next thing Naruto knew, he was face to face with the thing.

"Do ya like it?" the boy asked, a lopsided grin showing almost all his jagged teeth. Naruto was never one to offend outright, so nodded with a smile.

"er...yeah. It's really nice. Where did you get it?" he asked. It was only polite. The guy had just saved him from getting his face completely smashed in.

"That antique shop on the outskirts. Owned by that Zabuza guy...he's havin' to sell his collection 'cause they're goin' bankrupt, an' I had to buy it. I'm tryin' to collect all..." Naruto tuned him out, nodding politely. Outwardly he was intently listening to the guy's description of his swords. Inwardly he was crying at the mess his life was in. And trying to figure out how he'd get home. He really hoped Gaara was having a better time then he was...

tbc.

Okay, I really had to end it there, because this is getting to be a ridiculously lengthy thingemehbob. One doc says it's 8866 words and the other 9446 0.o

Was it okay? I haven't written anything in ages, so I'm bit rusty, and on reading this through I was like 'my god, what have these fingers spawned!!'....but I reeeally am not prepared to retype it again...too much...

Review? Suggestions? Please? I really need some responses right now, to know whether I need to change my writing style/direction or what...I'm just so confused. Basically, did you like it? Or not?

next chapter: how will Naruto get home, what do Gaara's siblings want, and Gaara will begin phase one of his mission...plus Naruto considers professional help. woot :3


End file.
